


Ashes of Power

by bloodsexsugarmagick



Series: Ballads of the Wind Fish [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda (Video Game 1986), Zelda - Fandom
Genre: Informed by recent games, Korok!Saria, Merchant!Beedle, NES Zelda, OldMan!Rauru, OldWoman!Impa, Romance Adjacent Not Romance Centric, Slice of Life, Slow start for planned wild ride, This Flashback Is Too Long And Offends My Dignity As A Writer, Yall Beedle Is A God You Dont Even Wanna Know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2020-12-14 20:57:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 29,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21022163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodsexsugarmagick/pseuds/bloodsexsugarmagick
Summary: "When the tides fall, and the wind slows;When the sun pales, and the darkness grows;When fields lay barren though tilled and sown;From the ashes of power,a hero will rise.They will reforge the thrice-shattered relic and destroy the world to save it."-From the diary of Rauru the Mad, circa 13 A.S.It is dangerous to go alone, Hero.But you've never truly been alone, have you?





	1. Boarhunt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anxious-Alice](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Anxious-Alice), [Anxious_Alice_05](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anxious_Alice_05/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Stars, Hide Your Fires](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5317391) by [StudioRat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StudioRat/pseuds/StudioRat). 
  * Inspired by [Our Ancestors' Sins](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19474999) by [Vanitas_Repliku_26](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanitas_Repliku_26/pseuds/Vanitas_Repliku_26). 

> Rather than detail every little adventure and interaction, I plan to address only what needs telling for my overall plot plans. Where it is not stated otherwise, the standard events of canon are presumed to take place. In areas where the canon is unclear and vague, this story may diverge, but the plan is to be as canon-compliant as possible.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hero of Hyrule duels with the King of Evil to rescue the Princess Zelda. Afterwards, certain details disturb them from a well-earned peace.

The brunette youth checked his map one last time, wiping sweat from his brow. His red tunic stuck wetly to his body from several injuries taken in the trials of the cavern.

He fished a bottle of red fluid from his belt, pulling the cork with his teeth and downing half of the draught. His face pulled into a grimace and he coughed lightly, before chasing the medicine with some clear water from a different bottle.

"Today it ends, Ganon," his high alto murmured to the empty room.

A deep chuckle carried out of the room on the other side of the open door.

The lad felt a ghost of movement from his pack, and glanced inside. The mystical golden triangle was throbbing inside. He pulled the strings closed and drew his sword, stepping into the ominous room ahead.

The door slammed shut behind him, but he did not flinch. He felt no fear in this moment. No concern for failure. Merely anticipation.

"A little small, even for a Hylian, aren't you?"

A fireball shot out of the darkness towards the youth, and he ducked to the side, looking around for a potential source.

"I'm big enough to take you down, Ganon." He blew stray auburne hairs out of his face as he crept towards the middle of the room. 'There!' He dodged in a roll as another fireball coasted lazily towards him.

"Hmph. So that scorpion couldn't even muster a full-grown man to fight me? I won't pretend surprise."

The voice came from all around. Like the speaker was running circles around him - but the youth could hear no footsteps.

Another flame, another dodge.

The lad heard a rustle of fabric behind him and struck out blindly with his blade, a glistening spark flying out from it as it slapped into thick, leather.

A giant porcine man stood sneering before him, tusks askew. He thrust the back of one blue-tinged hand at the young Hylian, flinging him towards a wall on the other side of the room, "Fool!"

His cap flipped around in the wind as he twisted to catch the impact with his feet, skipping to the stone floor with only a slight jar from the collision.

"You could not defeat me in the peak of your adult power with that fairy-blessed blade! I threw it's shards in the caldera of Death Mountain - you have no blade which can harm me now."

The boar-snouted man bellowed with laughter as he disappeared again, the gales of mirth echoing around the small chamber.

The youth ducked a ball of flame that darted for his head, but saw the second one chasing it to late to even block it with his shield. It slammed into his torso and flung him back into the wall, his head bouncing off of the stones with a loud ringing in his skull.

Another peal of laughter greeted his descent to the ground, reverberating in his head. 'No blade can harm, huh?' He glanced down at his quiver and the glinting magic within. He had found the quiver here in this very cavern, its case covered in arcane scripts he could not read.

The symbol in the scrollwork was clear to him though. The Goddesses' crest, which marked the quiver as a holy tool.

"Giving up already, Chosen of Farore? I expected more from you, to be sure. Even if you are but a child in this time." The sentence was punctuated with another fireball that blasted towards the boy.

He batted it casually away with his shield. He reached to his belt and grabbed the stoppered bottle again, ripping the cork out and spitting it to the side before downing the rest of the foul draught. His head began to clear as he darted forward and began slashing through the air, dodging fireballs and chasing the invisible fiend who tossed them about.

Another laugh guided his blade and he once more slapped the beast's skin with his magic sword. The illusion was cut, but the warlock immediately began to weave it anew with his hands, floating backwards away from the child.

In a series of well-rehearsed motions, the boy sheathed his sword and pulled his bow around off his back, leaping forward as he pulled a silver-white arrow from the gleaming quiver at his side. 

The beast-man's brows shot up as his eyes opened wide. The arrow landed in his chest right as he finished reweaving his illusion.

A roar of pain greeted the youth's ears. 'Looks like holy arrows will do the trick at least.'

"LIIIIIIINK! LITTLE FAIRY-BOY! I will kill you as I have killed you time and again!"

The youth's eyes widened as he darted away from a new stream of magical bolts, 'How does he know my name?!'

The warlock's flames erupted at a much greater pace now, following him too closely for comfort.

Link searched for a pattern, desperate for an opening. Every few cycles around the room, the fireballs would start coming from an unexpected direction, as if the warlock were altering course completely.

'He's too fast. I can't dodge his fire and strike him, too. He keeps moving.'  
The boy ducked his head under another blast, panting. His eyes narrowed. 

The next time the warlock's flames changed direction, Link did, too, darting to meet him in his cycle around the room. Several fireballs flashed directly at him. He slashed the first with his sword, grunting at the heat traveling up the blade as it absorbed the spell and grew searingly hot. The next he absorbed into his shield, lashing out blindly in front of it. His sword slapped flesh and illusion as a firebolt slammed into his chest. He dropped the blade as he flipped backwards from the brunt of the blow, ignoring the taste of fire on his face and limbs as he pulled the bow out for another bright-white shot of energy.

It sank into a scar on the warlock's porcine face and he screamed, falling backwards onto the floor. The scar ripped open, shedding light and mist as the man screeched.

Link dropped the bow before he landed, but still couldn't correct his angle in time, his wrist collapsing under the abusive landing.

He struggled to his feet amongst his own screams and his opponent's. He strode forward, shrugging off his shield and grabbing his sword in his off-hand, his left hanging limply to his side.

Fury shone in his eyes as he crept towards the warlock. Before Link's eyes, his blue-tinged pigflesh shimmered and dissolved, leaving behing an emaciated man with dark skin and short unruly red hair, sitting in a puddle of robes upon the floor.

He stood shakily, towering over the boy, robes barely granting him modesty, "Im... possible."

Light continued to fountain from a slashed scar across his brow, but the warlock seemed blind to it, staggering forward, reaching at the young hylian in the red tunic. "I... will not be defeated... by a child."

His hand started to glow in red light, aimed directly at Link.

The boy darted forward, leaping high into the air and slamming his sword into the man's chest, before falling to the ground below.

The man sucked in a breath, "Din's grace..."

He collapsed to his knees, hands going to the sword in his chest, pulling it out with a sucking sound. It dropped from his hands, weakly, and he fell backwards, his body turning to dust even as he sank to the stones beneath.

A shining gold triangle stood from the ashes, and Link crept forward, sliding it into his pack with its sister. He gathered his supplies the best he could with one hand and pryed open the northern door of the chamber.

Behind a wall of fire, Link could see her. Red hair trapped below a circlet of gold, a simple green dress adorning her. "Zelda."

The woman looked at him over the fire and nodded, concern evident in her eyes as she took in his condition, "You have vanquished Ganon...?" She looked uncertainly around the room and through the doorway into the chamber beyond. Link nodded tiredly at her and strode forward, sweeping his sword against the enchanted flames, cutting the lines of power which kept them burning.

Zelda stepped closer to him, looking over his wounds. "We're going to need to take care of that," she pointed at Link's broken wrist. "Unfortunately, I am not at my full powers myself, or I could bind it quickly."

Link stared at her foggily and then clumsily sheathed his sword. He reached into his pack, "Right... Impa said to bring this to you." He pulled out the triforce of wisdom and handed it to her.

The princess clapped her hands together and brought them to her mouth smiling, "Yes, that will do nicely." She gently caressed the artifact; a lover stroking their partner's cheek. Blue sparks trailed from her fingertips and she weaved them together in the air, sending them coursing around Link's mangled limb.

He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the tingling and painful rearranging under his skin.

After a few moments, the sensations stopped, "There, all done!"

Link glanced at his hand appraisingly and then looked to his healer. She was admiring a gentle blue glow within the Triforce crest upon her hand. He bowed to her, "Thanks, princess."

She looked him up and down again, "You are quite a bit younger than I expected."

Link could feel heat rising in his cheeks, "I get that a lot."

Zelda chuckled, "I bet you do, at that. Well, no matter. We must leave this forsaken place at once. Too long has our kingdom been under that pig's leash. There is much work to do to fix the scars he has left on our land." She looked at her rescuer, "Come along then, sir ...?"

"L-Link," he stammered out, looking up into her face. 'Stars and moon above. Her eyes are like sapphires under a sea of fire.'

Zelda smiled at him, "Sir Link, then. Hero of Hyrule! You will have to give the next batch of royal knights instruction in this whole hero-ing business."

"I -" the boy swallowed, "I will do whatever you say, Princess."

She grinned down at him, mischief dancing in her brows, "Of course you will, sir Hero!" She looked around her prison and turned her nose up, her bottom lip pouting out, "And the first request I have of you is to escort me from here. At once!"

Link gave a hurried salute and spun around, redrawing his sword as he went before her to the doorway. They strode through together, into Ganon's ceremonial chamber.

Link looked around the room, from side to side. He carefully stepped in front of the princess to halt her movements and threw glittering beams of energy into the corners of the room.

Zelda cocked her head and looked at the young hylian, "Sir Hero - is something the matter?" She summoned a ball of light in her hands, looking closely around the chamber herself.

Link nodded, his brown locks dancing in front of his face, "He's gone... Ganon's body isn't here any more."

The young woman drew in her breath quickly, "No... then the Triforce of Power?"

Link shook his head, patting his pack and feeling it thrumming inside, "I picked that up before I left."

Zelda sighed, "Small miracles." She marked the Triforce upon her shoulders and forehead. "Perhaps one of his servants came to collect his master's body for some arcane purpose. Whatever it means, we should leave here at once. I suspect we are not alone."

The young warrior nodded. He looked around the room and then at Zelda. He cocked his own head briefly, and then nodded. He sheathed his sword and pulled a ring inset with rubies off of his hand. Immediately, his tunic and cap turned green, matching her own dress. 

He held the ring out to her, and she took it in her hands, closing her eyes briefly, "Oh! It is a magic armor!"

Link nodded and pulled a sapphire laden band from his pack. He held it in front of her face, "This one matches your eyes better, Princess." He slipped it onto his finger, and his tunic and cap shone with a blue-white brilliance for several moments, before fading away into more muted colors. "The rubies are more powerful, though."

Zelda nodded and placed the ring upon her finger. Her green dress flared to life with fire, settling into a crimson color after several moments. She spun briefly, admiring the change.

Meanwhile, Link was digging through his pack and muttering. After a few more moments, he looked her over, scrutinizing her form. She blushed and looked away, "Sir Hero!"

"Princess," he began, "have you ever practiced archery?"

"Oh!" She looked at her bare arms, lean and fibrous. "Yes, actually. Impa insisted that it has been a Hyrulean tradition since time immemorial."

Link nodded, unbuckling his quiver and handing it to her, along with his bow, "If you have a clear shot, take it. We will restock arrows whenever we can, but for now, we will just have to make do with what we have."

He drew his sword again and waited while she settled the quiver to her own sash and nocked an arrow, undrawn and pointed to the ground. He nodded again, and then strode away, leading her away from the desecrated chamber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 10/26/2019: To imply that Zelda's Triforce of Wisdom now resides within her body.
> 
> In the animated series - which although not canon, is at times canon adjacent - Zelda is shown to be proficient with the bow. Furthermore, in The Adventure of Link, the Hero of Hyrule is stripped of his bow - as well as virtually all his other gear but sword and shield. It seemed appropriate to detail some of this. I do not know when the second chapter will come.


	2. Hyrule Unfolds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Zelda leave Spectacle Rock - after a little adventure - and she shows him the beauty of the land he saved.

The journey out of Spectacle Rock was not completely without peril, but Link was pleased with the princess's handling of bow and arrow.  
In one chamber, he matched swords with a pair of stalfos knights, pleased to watch as pestering keese around the room began to fall from the air with an arrow protruding from each of their round bodies.  
The young Hylian quickly adjusted to working with his partner. He stayed between her and melee threats, fiercely defeating them; while she competently picked off the remainder of any other monster challengers.  
They had made it almost halfway out of the maze when he stopped suddenly, Zelda continuing on to the correct exit without a thought, "Princess."  
Zelda stopped and gently pivoted, her hair and dress flowing in the dank, drafty air, "Yes, Hero?"  
He slowly strode towards her, sword out, but, held low, "You know the way out... don't you?"  
The young woman chuckled, and turned back to the door, striding forward as she called back over her shoulder, "Well, yes. I wouldn't be much of a princess, now would I, if I hadn't done my level best to save myself?"  
Link followed after, sweeping damp, brown hair out of his face and untidily up into his cap, "I don't follow. You tried to escape?"  
She looked back at him with widened eyes, "What, you expected me to stay put, prim and proper, while the King of Evil beset my realm with monsters?" She chuckled to herself as she looked forward again, "Not that he had much realm to ravish."   
"Besides." She nocked an arrow, and loosed it at a moblin head peeking out of a doorway in front of them. The beast fell forward with the arrow lodged to the fletching in the back of its skull. The wood snapped as the arrow struck stone, and spurts of blood squeezed past the shaft for several seconds as she marched forward, "I am neither proper nor prim."  
She stepped her left foot on back of the twitching moblin's skull, blood pooling around her bare right foot as she leaned over the creature, grabbing the handful of arrows out of its quiver. She placed the loot in her own quiver and nocked the next arrow before continuing down the hallway, a trail of blooded footprints following her for some time.  
Link shivered in the drafty air, before grabbing the corpse's meager bow and empty quiver, and hurrying after her, "You weren't scared Ganon would kill you for stirring trouble."  
Zelda gave him an easy smile, "Hardly. He wasn't about to kill me and lose any chance he had of assembling his precious sacred treasure. Besides," Her right hand drifted from the bowstring towards her dress absently, "He had other plans for me."  
Link cocked his head at her for a few moments and then shrugged, taking point again.  
"It is good I was able to escape briefly, in any case, or all hope would truly have been lost." Zelda traced the embroidery on the quiver she now wore.  
Link climbed on the shoulders of an oddly-placed suit of armor and then began artlessly plunging his sword into the gorget as it began to flail around, screaming theatrically, "What do you mean, princess?"  
She carefully aimed at a gelatinous creature creeping along the ceiling, catching it midfall as it plummeted towards Link and the animated armor he was toying with. The ooze, shrieked inhumanly, ichor splattering the floor as it landed.  
Link flipped backwards off of the armor and kicked it into the hungrily reaching ooze. It began to envelop the armor whole and he waved the princess on through the next door.  
Zelda pulled another arrow from the marked quiver, "I see you found my present." She smiled at Link as she passed, tapping the leather of the quiver, "I had to hide it from him as soon as I made it. Couldn't let him know I was orchestrating his undoing."  
The young man blinked and stared at her, "You made this holy weapon?"  
She shrugged as she walked, "Spellcraft is part of standard training for royalty - at least when they have a knack for it." She idly brushed her hair behind her ears as she strolled through another empty chamber, "Escaping a lazy moblin guard and liberating a quiver were easy enough. Layering the sacred enchantments of binding within the quiver was merely a practical application of some of the concepts I studied from Impa. It took time of course - one's magical energy is so slow to return without the aid of artifacts." She looked fondly upon the emblem on the back of her right hand, alive with a gentle glow since Link had returned the Triforce to her. "The only difficult part, honestly, was managing the final seal without the assistance of the Triforce of Wisdom."  
They turned a corner, and light poured into the statued entryway of the forsaken temple. Zelda's pace slowed as she took halting steps into the sunlight.  
Link grinned and grabbed her hand, pulling her gently forward. She shrank back as the sun's rays struck her face, holding her arm up to shield her eyes, "It's... so bright."  
The corners of Link's mouth sagged as he looked upon her, lurking just within the shadow provided by the entryway, "Your kingdom awaits, Princess."  
She looked out the door, but the vantage from within Spectacle Rock offered little view but that of the blue skys of Hyrule, "Does it though?" She looked back down the hallway from where they had come, "He felt me finish the quiver, I think, and then hide it from him."  
She reached her right hand up to hold her left shoulder gently, "He came quickly for me, stomping about the temple floors." She looked at Link and swallowed, closing her eyes, "I think he suspected, finally, that I was not his pretty little slave as he had thought." Her eyes opened, but they stared emptily forward, "He drug me through his ceremonial chambers and thrust me upon the altar behind."  
She shook her head and breathed shakily, "I thought he meant to kill us, right there, a sacrifice to his dark god." She dabbed, delicately at her eyes, "He drew a blade upon his hand and drew a sigil before a great stone." She continued on, her voice settling into a mechanical cadence, "He cursed at me, said I had forced his hand. Ganondorf placed the stone in the sigil and put his bloody hand on it."  
She grew quiet for a moment. "Then... he changed."  
Zelda closed her sapphire eyes again, and breathed steadily in and out. "He was a man once, you know." She looked at Link, and raised her hand up as tall as she could reach over his head, "A beast of a man as it were, but a man, nonetheless." She shook her head, "Such a waste."  
She picked her head up high, and looked out the entryway once more. She lowered her lids and strode into the sunlight, walking forward to the cliff at the edge of the plateau that Spectacle Rock sat upon. She looked upon the view before her. The land below the mountain was blanketed in many spots by swirling mist and clouds. She smiled joyfully, "So it held."  
Link walked beside her and studied her face, "What held, princess?"  
Zelda looked at him and took a new pose, head held high and shoulders back, feet apart. She thrust a hand out over the land, "Do you not see it, Hero?" She grinned, an open smile of teeth and laughed, "I cannot blame you - the King of Evil could not unravel this work. And the magic was so strong that it shattered the Triforce of Wisdom for a time." She smirked and gestured, "See there - where the Lost Woods wander up towards Lake Hylia?"  
Link followed her gaze and nodded, "Yes, princess, although I could have sworn they were closer than that."  
Zelda chuckled, "Well, I am sure it seemed that way to you at the time. The spell I wove brought that mist - it hid the greater part of our kingdom from his evil. When one walked upon it, the mist would turn their mind and blankly lead them through." She looked at him and reached out to ruffle his cap and hair, "Don't feel bad for missing it - I patterned it off of the great enchantment of the Lost Woods."  
She held her right hand out before her and it gleamed with light - "Link - would you hold the Triforce of Power above my hand?"  
The young hylian nodded and fished the artifact out of his pack. He held it as she asked and watched as she wove glowing patterns in the air with her left hand, the light drawing off of both the Triforce he held and the one contained within her skin. The patterns glowed bright blue at first, but sinews of red crawled around them, cradling them. They thrummed together with vitality.  
The sigils formed an image like an opened flower and then began to spin, like a windmill.  
Zelda's eyes shone with blue and red as she thrust her hand forward and the spinning sigil shot out over Hyrule, spreading into the sky, and shining with a brilliance so grand, Link shaded his eyes and turned his head.  
When the light faded, Link looked upon the land and whistled, low and long. The mists and clouds were all but gone, chased from the far corners of Hyrule, and resettled with vigor upon the Lost Woods.  
He looked into Zelda's eyes, blue gemstones once more, "You're amazing, Zelda."  
She smiled at him, "I know." She grinned toothily and within several moments, Link began to laugh, Zelda joining him shortly after.  
When they had settled down from their laughter, she gestured towards a grand castle, just visible in the distance, within the center of the fields of Hyrule, "Well, sir Hero -" she gave an exaggerated curtsy, bow still held in her off-hand, "Will you escort me home?"  
Link brushed auburne locks into his cap again, and stood straight, before bowing almost into a kneel, "Of course, princess!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaah. Perhaps I should have Zelda be more princessly? But she's so fun when she is being irreverent!


	3. Lizards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zelda does Zelda things, Link does Link things, both do cute things.

As they moved down Death Mountain, Link regularly stopped to harvest berries, sometimes storing them in his cap to eat from as they walked. Zelda followed his example, and ate from his cap when they strayed from the bushes for long. Soon, both their hands and the inside of the cap were stained a deep red-violet with berry juice.

"So - what is New Hyrule like?"

Zelda looked at him as if he had grown a third ear in the middle of his forehead, "What do you mean?" She gestured to the land stretching before them, "You've been adventuring through it for months. You know better than most people what it is like." She started pointing around the countryside. "Arid, sandy plains; great misty forests; gentle rivers and deep, wide lakes." She smiled at him, broadly, "Hyrule is the most beautiful country in the world!"

She laughs, "I may be a little biased."

Link smiled a little and then kicked at the ground for a bit, passing a gravel down the slope in front of them for a while.

"I meant... what are the people like?"

She looked at the hero for a moment. And then nodded, "Right - since I sealed most of Hyrule away, you wouldn't have met many of us."

He kicked the gravel again, before looking up at her, "Well - I met the crazy old man all over the place. And there was Beedle." He looked back at the ground and kicks up a new rock, "Oh, and Impa, of course! She's great."

Zelda nodded, brightly, "A better servant one could not have."

"Although," Link moved on ahead as she looked after him, her head cocked to the side, "She sure is obsessed with rupees."

Zelda blinked, twice. Then she coughed. Then she hurried after Link.

The pair walked more or less together a ways. At the crest of a small slope, the red-head gasps and drops low to the ground. She crept forward slowly, edging towards a spotted lizard sunning on a rock. She sprang forward, snatching it into her hands as Link grinned after her.

“Is it…” She peered through a gap in her hands at the lizard inside, “It is! It’s a fireproof lizard in the flesh!” She held it up to his face. “We’ve only ever found these here on Death Mountain, but they are so rare lately.” She smiled down at the lizard and let it out of her hands onto the rocks of the mountain. 

“They secrete an oil that can be collected and made into an ointment that resists fire. Back in Old Hyrule castle, we had a whole habitat set up for these creatures.” She giggled as it hid off behind a rock, “Admittedly, we haven’t been needing their help as much lately - we mostly used the ointment for traversing Death Mountain, but with how much the volcano has settled down…”

She looked up at the lightly smoking peak, brows pulled down and ears drooping, “Gan said that it seemed as if the very Fires of Din were dying out.”

Link looked at the princess, eyes wide, ‘Gan?’ 

A flash of light caught his eye, and he tackled Zelda to the ground, rolling with her behind one of the plentiful boulders dotting the landscape. A searing blade of light slammed into the ground near where she had stood.

Link nodded to where Zelda had dropped the bow on the ground and darted off in a path to another boulder closer to their assailant, drawing his sword along the way.

Its blue fur shone in the noon sun as it drew its sword into the air and then slashed out in Link’s direction. A beam of light danced down the blade;s edge and then leapt off the point, swirling through the air towards Link. He dove into a roll and came up as another beam flew at him. He gripped his sword and plunged it into the tip of the beam, spinning it in an arc around him and flinging it back at the creature, ‘I hate fighting lynels.’

While the creature was distracted with Link, the princess snuck back to the bow. She nocked an arrow behind a boulder and briefly peeked around the rock. The monster - a tall, narrow shouldered beast with four legs - reared back onto its hind legs and lifted both swords in the air, where there began to pulse with energy. It flung a combined beam at the boulder Link was hiding behind. It stuck the surface and a cloud of smoke and dust bellowed forth as shrapnel exploded out of the rock.

Zelda lined up an arrow carefully, and let it fly. In the air, it almost seemed to turn into a bolt of light before it sank into the left shoulder of the lynel.

The creature roared in pain as it dropped one of its blades, turning and charging toward the boulder.

Zelda’s eyes shot wide and her head darted to the side, settling on a small crevasse under an overhang. She sprinted for it pulling another arrow from her quiver.

The Lynel crashed into the boulder she had been hiding behind with its injured arm, setting off a resounding boom that echoed off of the rocks. The boulder went tumbling down the slopes of the mountain and the creature recentered itself, spotting nearby.

She let another arrow fly and the beast swung its remaining sword at the offending ray. The blade absorbed the energy of the bolt, shuddered once, and then shattered, violently. Stray shards embedded themselves into the lynel’s flesh and it howled, face contorted into a hideous mask of pain.

It dug a piece of crude steel from its chest and threw it at the ground, turning to Zelda, as she reached, hands trembling, for another arrow. Now swordless, it stood straight up and leaned its head back, breathing in deeply. Zelda looked around desperately for some cover.

“Hey, you ugly periwinkle brute - catch!”

The lynel spun on its uninjured hind legs, catching a hissing midnight-blue orb as Link sprinted towards it, sword sheathed and shield abandoned. The creature looked down at the orb and sniffed it, cocking its head to the side. It’s eyes widened - too late - as the orb blew up in a flare of smoke, fire, and ceramic bits. It screamed and reared onto its hind legs, falling over. It struggled to its knees, blood streaming down its face, chest, and all over its arms, but before it could even stand, the young Hylian man had mounted its back and begun plunging his sword repeatedly into the monster’s back, sinking in all the way to the hilt, before withdrawing the blade at sharp angles with wet, slurping sounds.

After several stabs, the creature quit flailing, slumping limply forward, its body sitting vaguely upright from nothing more than the tension in its tendons.

“Link!”

He looked over to the princess, briefly, meeting her eyes.

“It’s dead, you can stop.”

He turned back to the lynel and reared back his blade one more time, aiming carefully, and sinking it into where he knew the species’ heart to be.

Faintly, he heard Zelda wretching into the rocks.

He planted a boot into the corpses back and drew back the sword with a last moist squish. He took several deep breaths and cleaned the blade on a dry section of the beast’s fur. He sheathed it and turned to the princess.

She was kneeling, doubled over, still emptying their breakfast of berries into the rocks. Her pale, fleshy skin glistened smoothly in the noon sun. Folds of green cloth were showing between her legs and chest, and bloomers of cerulean covered her around her wide hips. Link stared for a moment, and then reached over and held back the princess’ hair.

After several moments, Zelda’s - now dry - wretching finally ceased. She gracelessly wiped her mouth on the back of her left arm and stared blankly ahead, “I thought I was going to die.”

Link nodded, unsure whether the princess could see him.

“He was right there, sucking in air to…” She shook her head a few times, “I had plenty of time to shoot another arrow. I could’ve nailed it in the face!” She looked over at Link, eyes wide and darting around his features, “But I was shaking so bad. I couldn’t grip the arrows.” She pulled her hands in front of her, trembling, “They’re still shaking.”

Link placed a hand over one of the princess’ own. She looked at him again, eyes wider, “You - you’re shaking, too.”

Link nodded. Then shrugged. He let go of Zelda’s red hair and glanced at her form again.

“Um.” He blinked and rolled his neck a bit. “Princess… why are you…” He gestured at her unclad form.

Zelda looked down upon herself. Her cheeks slowly turned a brilliant shade of scarlet, ears sinking down almost to her shoulders.

“Well.” Her eyes darted to his for the briefest moment. “You see.” She looked pointedly away and sighed, closing her eyes.

“The lynel was set upon me and breathing in air for a great bellow and it didn’t have any weapons left but I knew from my time with Gan that lynels could breathe fire and I looked around but there wasn’t anywhere to hide from the flame and the only think I could think of was to hide behind my dress like a cloak and so I stripped it off as quick as I could and now here we are talking about it and you’re being all strangely quiet and I don’t know what to do and I need you to look away so I can put it back on but you’re just staring and I’m still freaking out from almost dying and -”

Link cut her off with a hand to her shoulder. She stiffened. He squeezed gently. Then he stood and walked in front of her and disappeared behind a boulder.

Slowly, Zelda stood. She held her dress in front of her and examined it for any stray filth. Luckily, it appeared to have been spared. She wiped the back of her arm on the smooth edge of a rock and then pulled the dress on over her head. She pulled her hair out of the collar and fluffed it, gently, before taking a deep breath and striding over to the boulder where Link waited.

“Thank you.”

Link shrugged.

Zelda glanced over to the boulder the lynel had struck with its sword beams, noting the steam still rising from the surface. She grabbed Link’s hand and pulled him over to the rock. She let his hand go to test the temperature of the boulder in different locations.

Link took the opportunity to grab his discarded shield, strapping it back on his right arm.

“Those Skyward Strikes really are something.”

Link was running through blocking forms and looked at her over his shield.

“The sword beams?” Link shrugged and Zelda put her hands on her hips and huffed, “Our legends claim that in ancient times, Skyward Strikes were the sole province of the Hero.”

She ran here hands through the rapidly cooling crevasse the lightning-like beam had carved in the rock, “Ganondorf had bragged to me of teaching his lynels the technique. I suspect he may even have been capable of it himself.” Her eyes lost focus as she absently stroked the boulder.

Link looked at her and shook his head, frowning.

“We had someone we thought was the Hero, you know.” She slowly looked up at Link, “Before you, I mean.” She looked back at the boulder and settled upon it, leaning into its warmth, “The Master Sword accepted him and everything. When we fled Old Hyrule to New Hyrule, he guarded our retreat, here, on Death Mountain.”

Link remained silent.

“He promised me he would return as soon as he had bought us enough time to escape.” Zelda looked down at her hands, idly stroking each other. “We never heard from him again.” She looked into the sky, passively watching the clouds, “His name was Errol.”

A single drop of water ran down Link’s cheek.

“I think its going to rain,” Zelda said. 

Link nodded, and wiped his cheek.

Zelda looked at him, “Ganondorf said he killed Errol. Well.” She looked at Link strangely, “He said he killed ‘Link,’ actually.”

Link shrugged.

Zelda looked back to the boulder, caressing the blackened streaks, “He also said he broke the Master Sword. Threw it in the volcano.”

Link nodded.

“I had hoped he lied,” Zelda admitted. She kicked her legs, absently.

Link fished some jerky out of his satchel. He handed some to Zelda, and sat next to her, eating some himself.

She slowly chewed on the meat, keeping her thoughts to herself. After she finished, she grabbed the canteen from Link’s belt and took a swig. He smirked at her, and then drank some, as well.

They sat in silence for a time.

“Our ancestors must be disappointed in us,” Zelda looked over to Link, “That blade was an ancient relic, undamaged for eons.”

Zelda hopped off of the boulder and turned to Link, taking on a straight-backed posture and assuming a falsely deep, pompous voice, “With the Sword of Evil’s Bane in hand, the Hero lifted it to the sky and summoned power from the heavens themselves to smite the Demon King.” She held her right hand up like a sword and cast it down as she spoke, She sighed, “The Council will never let us hear the end of it.”

Link raised his eyebrows at Zelda and hopped down to join her. Standing beside her, he drew his sword, lifting it up to the sky. He focused for a moment and then cast the sword down in an arc, a beam of light shooting out and dancing into the ground several feet away.

Zelda’s mouth dropped open and Link began to laugh.

“Let me see that sword!” Zelda grabbed it from him and began examining the hilt and blade, “It’s clearly not the Master Sword.” She looked at Link again, “So how did you…?”

Link smirked and looked around. He spotted a tree nearby and strode over to it, grabbing a mostly straight branch cast off to the ground. He broke some small twigs off and then held it before him like a sword.

“Link, what are you…”

Link closed his eyes and held the stick up into the sky, focusing. He felt a heat in his left hand and opened his eyes, slashing down with the stick. He smelled ozone as the stick let loose a beam. It then combusted in his hand and he dropped it, stomping out the flames.

Zelda’s mouth was hanging open, “You can do a Skyward Strike with anything?”

Link held his hand and waved it side-to-side. So-so.

Zelda gave him back the sword and he sheathed it. She picked the bow up in her left hand. Then she grabbed his left hand in her right and drug him behind her as they continued their descent down the mountain.

“Do you think you can teach my guards how to do that?”

Link cocked his head to the side and then shrugged.

“Will you at least try?”

He nodded, and she smiled, “Well, finally some good of this all then.”

===================

As night grew nearer, Link showed Zelda to a small cave the pair could rest in. They still had a few hours more of travel upon the winding trails before they would exit the mountain range, and the paths could get quite treacherous at night.

The redhead assisted the young brunette in gathering up brush and leaves to block off the opening to their small cave, “You know, it’s really not even large enough to be called a proper cave,” She shook her head and glared at the space. “It is the most modest and unspacious of caves. A burrow even.”

Satisfied, she set about arranging the branches and scrub in front of their burrow for the night until she was satisfied. She squeezed into if from one corner and wedged up against the cool stone wall.

Link shrugged and stowed his sword and shield in a bush before joining her. He pulled a tome covered with runes and an intricate wand from out of his pack and muttered for a moment. The tip of the wand began to glow, dimly, and Link used it to search through the tome.

Zelda looked on, over his shoulder as he was flipping pages.

“Oooh, that one!” She stabbed her finger at a passage as link was trying to turn the page. The paper ripped slightly in his grip and he glared at her, “Sorry, sorry! But look!” She read the passage aloud in a strange language, and then spoke again in modern Hylian, “To warm the bones in the cold and damp.

Link’s eyes widened, “You know Old Hylian?”

Zelda took a turn of glaring at him, “Of course! It is commonly used among nobility!” She smirked at him and then her expression turned, “Mostly to speak ill of servants and make them feel stupid for not knowing the language.” She let out a rush of air, “Well, our country is certainly not perfect.”

She looked at the wand and tome, and then to Link, “So where did you pick up these artifacts, and why are you looking through them if you can’t even speak the language?”

Link shrugged and pointed at the book, to where pictures were drawn, carefully showing hand gestures and wand motions.

“Oh. Pictures.”

Link smirked.

Zelda carefully read the passage in the book and - snatching the wand from Link - confidently cast the spell. 

The air and rocks around them began to slowly grow warmer.

Zelda moaned a contented sound and pushed up against the stones again, “Muuuuch better.”

Link laughed and stretched out, laying his head on his arms, “You have nice skin, Princess.”

Zelda’s eyes shot open wide and she stared at him as a hare stares at a wolf.

“Um. Thank you.”

Several moments passed in silence and Link closed his eyes.

“Link?”

He opened his eyes again, “Hmm?”

“Those Skyward Strikes? Without the Master Sword? Heck, without even using a sword at all?”

Link nodded for her to continue.

She leaned over, supporting the weight of her torso on her arms, “You’re amazing, Link.”

Link’s cheeks began to burn.

“Princess, I think the spell might be set a little high?”

“No, it’s fine, Link.”

She moved closer to him, “In fact, I think its not warm enough.” She threw an arm around him and rolled him towards her. She snuggled into his back, their hips pressed together, and her chin against the top of his head. She shoved her right arm under his head and grabs his shoulder, pulling him close and holding him there.

Link laid, stiffly for a time, and then nestled deeper into her embrace.

“With Ganondorf gone, I wonder if things will start to go back to normal?”

Link turned his head slightly towards her, his left ear tip rubbing her collarbone.

“Our people aren’t living as long. Perhaps it is just the stress of the different climate, but… I worry.”

Link nodded.

“And there are fewer mages in every year. The numbers have been declining for decades.”

Link stays quiet.

“I’m not sure how much longer Hyrule has.”

Link grabs Zelda’s left hand in his own and squeezed it, nuzzling into her.

Zelda waved the wand briefly to dismiss the light cantrip, and the pair doze off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unedited, due to how easy it is to rough draft on my phone using my bluetooth keyboard, but how difficult it is to go back and edit without using a full PC.
> 
> I just love assertive Zelda!


	4. Riddles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Zelda meet up with the strange Old Man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler: Yes. Of course. It is meant to be a touch confusing. See if you can figure it out? Only some of the pieces are here, and some pieces belong to other puzzles.

A wrinkled, gaunt man with eccentric, white hair and tattered red robes tended a fire at the bottom of the mountain.

He looked up, suddenly, across the fire, “Why yes, of course, Princess.” He nodded, “The path, the path, yes of course! If only he takes the right path. Hmm…”

“Will you guide him there, then? Taken to New Hyrule? But it will not be enough. In the tower of the North Castle she rests, but it will not be enough. It is never enough.”

He frowned and scrubbed at the fire.

“But… wouldn’t that mean that she…? No, Aryll! You mustn’t challenge the Helmaroc King!”

He spun around, slashing out with a stick, “Who is there? Who.” He walked with the stick like a cane, “Is…”

He blinked and looked around, “But where am…?” He stumbled back to the campfire, stirring a pot of soup.

“Yes. Waiting for the Curse-Breaker and the Other Queen.” He looked up into the sky, “But what of the pieces of the Shadow Prince? Will they be brought together in the lower realm?”

He spit, “And that tacky wizard will be the father? What cruel mockery plays at the whim of the golden ones…”

“The village? Why of course. Right this way, right this way.” He looked over his shoulder at nothing, “Mind your step, though. There are worse than moblins and lizalfos where we are going. Yes, the Goddesses themselves will burn, and our sky and people will burn with them.”

▲

▲▲

Link awoke to the sound of birds calling each other. Carefully, he stole away from their little burrow and made his way to the bushes where some of their supplies were stashed.

He spotted a pair of quail foraging around some bushes. He watched as they took turns sneaking back into the bushes for a bit before coming back out.  
Grabbing the bow and quiver, the youth slowly scaled a nearby tree and surveyed the area.

Link frowned and turned his head a little. Occasional squeaks could be heard from the bush. Link shook his head, nocking a single arrow.

▲

▲▲

Link quietly pulled the brush away from the burrow and gathered what other mostly dry wood surrounded them.

He surveyed the rocks in the immediate area and found several flat ones to his liking. Pulling a wide dagger like trowel from a sheath at his belt, he found an area of relatively loose soil and gouged out a small trench. He placed some kindling and burn wood within the trench and retrieved the book and wand from beside the sleeping, silent princess.

Opening the book to refresh his memory, he waved the wand and uttered a short command. The tip of the wand ignited briefly, propelling a mighty fireball towards the trench.

The kindling caught happily aflame. Link replaced the magical tools in his satchel and knelt by the trench, digging small tunnels to the side of the trench for better airflow.

He placed a pair of flat, flagstone-like rocks upon the trench, crossing it. He grabbed handfuls of sandy soil and scrubbed the rock surfaces with it, before brushing the dirt away. He scrubbed his trowel with some grit as well, and then banged it on the side of a barren tree.

Using the serrated teeth on one side of the tool, he pulled the quail he had shot over and began to butcher it. He flared the wings open and cut off the portions too meager to bother with. The remainder, he plucked and set upon the stones.

He pulled the innards and scraps off to the side, and finished the messy endeavor, placing the rest of the usable meat upon the cooking stones. He ranged a bit as the stones warmed, collecting wild berries in his hands. When he had a handful, he returned to the fire, slowly crushing the juice of the berries out over the meat.

The Hylian youth then scrubbed his hands in the dirt and then some leaves, before picking his nails clean with the tip of the trowel. As the fire picked up, Link smiled gently at the aroma rising from the stones - roasting fowl kissed by tangy-sweetness.

As the flesh roasted, Link pulled a carefully carved recorder from his satchel and began quietly sounding out a melody. He had played the flute most meals since finding it on his travels. The airy sounds it made seemed to enunciate his feelings more clearly than words.

His thoughts strayed as he played. Memories of times before the fall of Old Hyrule. Before the Exodus to New Hyrule.

A young man’s smile, filtered through brown bangs featured heavily in his thoughts. The smile faltered as the man wearing it picked up a cursed blade. Swinging the vile violet-handled violence, he hummed a somber tune.

Link recognized it as the one he was now playing over and over, embellishing upon it with broken minor chords.

He halted the music and rubbed at his eyes, suddenly wet. When he opened them again, Zelda was kneeling before him. Her ears were slack and drooping under her red hair, and her eyes spoke volumes to Link.

“I’ve heard that melody somewhere before,” Zelda looked down at her hands, clenched together in her lap.

Link looked away, blinking his eyes dry. The arid mountain made that blessedly easy for him, “Thank you, Din,” he uttered under his breath. He waited for several minutes for the princess to say more, but she remained silent.

After some long moments, he reached over with his trowel and flipped the meat upon the cooking stones. The juices sizzled against the hot rock, steam shooting rapidly into the air in ragged streams.

Zelda’s stomach grumbled loudly. She glared down at it, slapping it in admonishment, and then shrugged as she looked up at Link, her ears raising, “I may not have eaten much since supper two nights ago?”

Link smiled and nodded, moving the meat around a bit on the stones and handing Zelda the trowel hilt first. When she had taken it, he took his hat off and held a finger out to her, before darting off. She smiled and patiently worked the meat, pleased by the aroma. As it finished cooking, she moved the pieces closer to the edges where they would stay warm but not burn. Shortly, Link returned, hat filled and leaking juice from the tip. He squeezed some more of the berry juice onto the meat and then set the hat down, sitting next to Zelda with the hat between them. He removed his water skin and placed it between them as well.

Link started on his serving of fowl, wrinkling his nose as he bit in, ::So gamey.:: He ripped off another bite and choked it down, chasing it with water.

The princess raised her eyebrows at him, ears quiveriing, “That bad, hmm?” She grabs his trowel and spears a bit of meat, making the affair look positively dainty as she nibbles at it. She tilts her head, humming a little bit, “Has more quail taste than I am used to.” She takes a bigger bite. “The berries detract some from the bitter bite.”

She eats a few berries from the hat between them and then takes another bite, “Hmm. Definitely better.” She looks to Link and smiles, “You aren’t a bad little cook, Hero.”

Link hums a little and also tries some fresh berries before his next bite, “You are right, Princess, that does help some.” He wrinkles his nose again on the next bite, “I admit I’ve never been much fond of fowl.”

“Oh?” Zelda proceeds to polish off her serving, and playfully stabs his as well, before he waves her to continue, fishing a piece of leaf-wrapped jerky out of his pouch instead.

The red-head shrugs and chews contendedly before moving on to their berries.

After a long silence, Zelda shifted to stand, “So what kind of foods are you fond of, then?”

Link buried the remains of their meal in the fire trench, covering it up carefully with the cooking stones and then dropping the rest of the brush on the mess. He moved to stand as well, grabbing his hat, “Vegetables. Beef, cucco. Dairy, eggs, sometimes fruit.” He popped some berries in his mouth. “Fruit whenever I can, really.”

He smiled at her, berry juice staining his young teeth.

Zelda shoved at his shoulder and he danced away with the push, grinning broader.

As they started down the trail, Zelda noticed a thin plume of smoke rising near the base of the mountain.

“Moblins?” Zelda queried as they continued to follow the path.

Link shook his head, “Maybe Darknut, but - probably not.They seem skittish around fire.”

The Princess nodded, “I wonder who - or what - it is?”

Link shrugged.

Zelda’s ears twitched as she followed the youth and she nocked an imaginary arrow to her bow. She lined it up and fired it right at his boyish rump. TWANG

Link looked over his shoulder at her, and she whistled innocently, holding the bow in front of her in both hands as she looked around the countryside.

Link turned to the trail again, ears lowering. ::Girls.::

The plume of smoke loomed ever closer, “I suppose we will find out soon enough.” The princess’s voice was tight.

Link looked back at her, but she crossed her arms and looked pointedly away. He sighed quietly as he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, ::Wonder what kind of bug crawled up her stinkhole?::

The foliage and wood grew significantly more dense as they neared the bottom. Link’s ears turned nearly continuously as they walked, pointing at every stray noise that broke the tranquility of their walk.

At the base of the mountain, the ground leveled, and the trail led them in a less straight-forward manner to the plume. Link’s nose twitched as the scent of a light smoke filled it, “We’re close, Princess.”

Zelda nodded and nocked an arrow, following as quietly as she could manage.

Link turned a corner and relaxed visibly, looking carefully around before striding forward and calling out, “Old man?”

Zelda cocked her head and followed, out of place mutters reaching her long ears. Her ears twitched, and a grin broke out on her face as she tucked the arrow away and darted around Link, “Rauru! I thought I heard your voice!”

The balding old man turned and caught Zelda in an embrace, eyes fixed on a distant sky, “Yes, yes. The sorceror cannot be trusted.”

Zelda’s eyes and ears turned down as she pulled back to look into the elder’s face, “Yes, yes. Same old Rauru.” She smiled softly and pulled up a tattered stole to wipe at a smudge on the man’s face. She then tugged on his long beard, earning a moment’s glare before he once again stared off into the distance.

“Someone needs a shave!” She patted the beard, softly, “You’ve been out here alone all this time, godfather?”

“The angry God will swallow them all.” He blinked, his eyes wet, “Will he swallow us, too?”

Zelda gasped, swatting his shoulder, “Blasphemer! Everyone knows there are no Gods!” She sticks her tongue out at Link, “Only Goddesses.”

Link stared at her, ears flat.

Zelda giggled, hair bouncing on her shoulders.

“NO! You can’t have her!” Rauru grasped Zelda and bent over her, shielding her from a threat Link could not see.

Zelda sighed and she embraced the old man, resting her head against his chest.

She smiled at Link from under her bangs. “Rauru has been around for a long time,” She looked up at his face, beard tickling her nose, “He’s the one who named me!”

Rauru looked down at her, “Yes. Zelda. Zelda. Always Zelda. It is a good name. She will be a beautiful queen one day, my princess.”

Zelda smiled, “Why thank you, Rauru!”

Rauru snorted, “What a rude little rascal you are!”

The princess shook her head. Then she sniffed the air and pulled herself away from the elder’s embrace, walking over to the campfire. A small cast-iron pot hung suspended from an ornately carved spit. A wood-handled steel ladle hung from one of the supports, and three empty bowls sat around the fire.

She turned and smiled, “Just like Rauru to be always prepared.”

Link walked up to the old man in the tattered robes and gently grabbed his elbow, pulling him to the fire, “Come on, time for lunch, Old Man.”

“You’re right Rauru, he is rude.” Zelda ladles out soup into the three bowls and sets them back down around the fire, “But it’s okay. He just doesn’t know any better yet. We’ll train him up in no time.” She grinned up at Link and Rauru as she set down the last bowl, and then sat back on the ground as though she were side-saddle atop a horse.

“Many years of practice,” the old man said as Link tried to help him to the ground and got swatted on the hands for the effort.

When Link sat down, Zelda eagerly started on her soup, blowing across the top and sipping slowly.

Link brought his bowl to his lips, but the steam warned him away. He and Rauru watched Zelda as she sipped away at the scalding soup, eyes closed and a subtle grin pulling at her lips.

Link’s ears wiggled, “You really enjoy food, don’t you, Princess?”

Zelda didn’t even open her eyes, “‘To enjoy Farore’s Bounty is to be pious in deed.’” She sipped more aggressively at the soup and hummed, “Besides, Rauru is quite the accomplished cook.”

Link sniffed at his soup again, “It certainly smells nice.”

The old man’s eyes rolled around in his skull, “Soon, soon. Din’s anvil will be used to reforge the world.” His eyes focused on Link, “You are not such a pleasure, yourself, little Hero.”

Link shifted several inches away from Rauru, unconsciously as his ears lay down, “See, this is why I never want to stay around the Old Man for too long.” He looked at Zelda, her eyes twinkling, and her ears bouncing, “Is he always like this?”

Zelda swallowed some soup.

::Did she just MOAN?::

“Oh yes, Rauru is Rau-”

“If we leave too late, we will not reach the village before nightfall.” The man was staring off in the distance again, “And we would do well to be within their walls, ere the servants of Power come.” He turned to Link, “You’re welcome, runt.”

Zelda nodded, “Ah yes, so you will take us to Saria Town then? I had hoped as much, godfather.” She finished her bowl and ladled another for herself, “Your food is getting cold, Link.”

He stared at his bowl, still steaming, “Uh. Don’t worry about me, Princess.” He started to sip at the soup, noting the finely chopped celery and carrots, floating amongst tiny chunks of potato and strands of beef. Dashes of herb clung to the surface, but Link wasn’t sure which ones. The broth was a thick, grayish brown. It warmed Link’s tongue and soothed about his mouth with a calm flavor. It eased his throat as he drank, and a moan of his own escaped his mouth, his eyes shutting.

Before he realized it, he was coaxing the remains of the bowlful into his mouth. He opened his eyes and scooped more for himself, and then the last of the pot for Rauru who was holding his bowl out without even looking at him, eyes locked on Zelda.

“Ah yes, giant squid is quite delicious, friend, but do you not feel bad for eating a creature with such a brilliant mind?” He blinked, “Oh, well yes, if it tried to eat you first, that does make a difference… Why no, I don’t mind if I do! Let me fetch my chop sticks.”

Zelda giggled, “Excuse me, but Farore has issued an urgent summons.” She waltzed off behind some trees, singing a hymn loudly.

Link finished his second bowl, and found sandy soil to scour the pot and ladle with. As he worked, Rauru placed his bowl beside the hero, and pulled the pieces of the spit apart, locking them together into a long, hooked staff. As Link dumped the soil out of the pot, Rauru picked the ladle up with his toes and dropped it in before hooking the pot’s handle with the staff and hoisting it over his shoulder. Link scoured the bowls and stacked them, picking them up and looking to Rauru who was holding a wide pocket open in the side of his robe. Link deposited the bowls and divided the fire, burying it under their refuse.

Rauru nodded and set off on a narrow trail through the woods. Link followed, stopping at the edge of the clearing. Zelda shortly appeared and trotted after them, stopping to reclaim her bow from the ground.

She called off, “Thanks for waiting, Rauru! We are right behind you.” She shrugged at Link and they headed down the path after the bearded fellow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, the plans I have for you, Rauru. Such a fun character.
> 
> I hope you are enjoying this, but alas, even if you aren't, I'm afraid I must continue. This story must be told, even if it is only to myself.


	5. Empathy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and company find their way to Saria Town and meet some of the locals, including a precocious child named Soari.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unedited, no beta. We die like men-children.

Leaves rustled in the wind, as sand blowing across paper. An occasional mosquito found the travelers, buzzing into their space, before meeting a swift end at Rauru’s hands.

The old man’s pace was erratic, slowing and quickening for reasons he either could not or would not share with the Hero or the Princess. Watching him, Link realized that his changes in speed were punctuated by him reaching out and crushing stray insects from the air. Rather than frantically swiping at the creatures as most Hylians Link had seen plagued by mosquitoes, Rauru would simply reach out and pull a bug from the air, crushing it in the same instant.

Link paid close attention to the noises around them, and rushed forward to the next buzz he heard, but before he could even lift his hand, Rauru was flicking the vampiric bug demon into the scrub off of the trail.

_ ::How does he do that?:: _ Link continued to watch, and the old man consistently appeared in the right location to pluck the mosquitoes from the air.

Link shook his head and noticed Zelda giving him a sideways glance as she walked along beside them. The young hero huffed and stomped ahead on the path, alert to the giggles that chased him.

Birds, bugs, and other forest creatures called out to each other from around the trail. The thin scent of damp grass was almost drowned out by the stench of rotting leaves. They crunched wetly under his boots with every step.

The Hylian youth smiled and strolled along, soaking in the life of the forest.

His soak did not last long.

The forest began to thin rapidly, and before long, an arid plain opened before him. An occasional tree speckled the landscape, but most of the earth was swallowed by wind-blown fields of grain.

Link stared out over the fields, the moisture brimming in his eyes swiftly blown away by the wind,  _ ::Just like home.:: _

▲

▲▲

The young man’s brown bangs fell in front of his eyes and he brushed them under his cap. The locks were damp with sweat that clung to his brow, and he wiped that away too. He looked out over the field of wheat and smiled, pulling his scythe back for another reap as he started whistling a chipper tune.

“Big brother!”

The man looked up and grinned, “Hey, Sprinkles. Didn’t see you there.” He swung the scythe again.

The stomp of a boot, muted by the soft wheat underneath, “Quit cutting! It’s almost dark! We’re going to be late for supper!”

He chuckled and looked up into the sky, starting to turn orange over the Hebra Mountains, “I suppose you’re right. What a clever child.”

He carried the scythe over to a large hand cart and put a leather sheath over the blade before hooking it into a pair of notches on the handle and tongue. He pulled two rakes off the cart and handed one over, “If you help me sack the wheat, we’ll be able to eat quicker.”

“Ugh!”

Another stomp. “I already finished my chores, and now I have to help you with yours, too?”

The young man looked down with a raised brow, “Hmm… Well, I happen to know for a fact that Tala is making her world-famous Wildberry Meringue Pie, tonight.”

He turned sideways a little bit, “If you help me… I might be persuaded to give up my piece.”

He started to rake the wheat into a pile, returning to his whistling.

A grumble. “Fine. But you better give me that piece of pie.”

▲

▲▲

“What are you humming, Link?”

The hero opened his eyes to see Zelda, waiting patiently in front of him, hands clasped around her bow.

He looked down at a piece of wheat in his fingers. His arm shook, and he ripped the grains off the sheaf, crunching them in a fist.

“Nothing.”

He moved past the princess and the moisture shimmering ever so slightly in her eyes.

The trail cut straight through the fields, and off in the distance the hazy smoke of village hearthfires could just be seen. Near the horizon, Link could just make out a horse-drawn cart heading to the village, _::Farmers heading home before dark.::_

Footsteps sounded behind him, “No one wants to risk being a moblin’s dinner.”

Link nodded, _::Can’t say as I blame them. Who would?::_ He tossed his gaze around as they trekked towards the town. Unless moblins had shrunk considerably, none hid in the grain surrounding them.

“You said you’ve never been to New Hyrule, Link?” She jogged up beside him, head bent towards him.

He shook his head, “I had never crossed over Death Mountain until now.”

She nodded her red locks, “Well, you’re going to love it here.”

She grabbed his sword hand in both of hers, and held it, forcing him to keep pace with her, “They were very kind when we had to flee Old Hyrule. Uncle Daphnes has been so very good to us all.” 

She looked back, “Isn’t that right, Rauru?”

Link looked over his shoulder at the old man. He stepped surely around all the dips and pebbles strewn across the path, while keeping his eyes on the clouds traversing the sky.

“No time, no time! The engine will reach the castle. And then, New Hyrule will fall.”

Zelda’s eyes shot wide, “Rauru… what did you just say?”

The old man turned his face towards her, but his eyes looked past her countenance, “The Prince of Blood will fight the King of Spirits, and all the living will lose.”

Zelda and Link stared at him for several moments, but he kept trodding to the village, “And when Twilight falls, all is lost.”

Link shook his head, “Pleasant godfather, you have.” He set off after the mad man, pulling the princess along with him.  _ ::At least the mosquitoes have let off some now that we are in the sun.:: _

The youth looked up at where the sun plummeted towards the horizon and grumbled.

The redhead’s brow jumped up and she shot him a look as the corner of her lips pulled up into a smirk, “Is something bothering Hyrule’s Hero?”

“Mosquitoes.”

“I too, am plagued by little pests. Saria’s home is upon us, may she rest ever in Farore’s arms.” Rauru had come to a stop before the cumbersome wooden gates of the village, standing open before them. Lightly-armored townsfolk stood to either side, bows in hand. A spear and shield rested on hooks by each in the gate itself.

Link looked over to Zelda, “Saria an old friend of his?”

Rauru turned his head over his shoulder, “As a matter of fact, Lady Saria was a good friend of mine, thou impertinent child.” He turned to the guards and bowed deeply, his back popping several times.

_ ::Thou? Who speaks like that anymore? What a self-important coot.:: _

“The Princess Zelda looks to meet with -”

“Zeldy!” A child younger than Link with chartreuse locks and golden skin ran up out of a thickening crowd of villagers. Link pulled his arm away from the princess as she rushed towards the kid.

Link looked at the guards closer. One of them had tints of green in their hair as well,  _ ::Well that’s different.:: _

Zelda ran her fingers through the kid’s hair, “Oh, Soari.”

The kid smiled up at her, cheeks wet and glistening, “Lady Impa said you’d be coming back soon!”

Zelda crouched down to reach almost eye level with the child, “Well never let it be said that Impa tells lies.”

Link was already moving forward, nose high in the air, scenting a sweet pie crust baking, but he threw his voice back over his shoulder, “Impa lies!”

Rauru nodded, “Yes, of course I’d like a pastry. Thank you for asking.”

The blonde guard looked at the old man with his head cocked, “Uh. I suppose I could buy you a pie?” He began to open his wallet pouch and Zelda chuckled. Link shook his head and continued on around a building where a bustling little market row was setup.

He wandered between the vendors. Not everyone was actively making sales - some were merely chatting with their neighbors, while others were working on small projects. 

A pair of leather-armored guards lit torches up and down the row, while cheaply-printed banners on sack cloth waved about from their spear hafts. Neat cloth sheaths covered the metal tips of their weapons. The banners bore the crest of New Hyrule, the stylized lion standing proud, claws fiercely extended.

Link found the source of the pastry aroma to be a stall with a short line. He moved towards the back of the line and scanned for a price sign.

_::Ah, there!::_ A small sign showed a 3 next to a meaty pastry and a 5 next to a fruity one.

_ ::That writing looks…:: _

Shoulder length crimson locks flew around as a young man spun behind the counter and hollered at an open window, “Tala! We’re out of cherries!”

_ ::It can’t be.:: _

The young man turned back to his customer, and Link ducked away.

_ ::Malo. What are the chances?:: _

Link scanned the market more carefully. He gravitated towards a tailor with a collection of cloaks and ran his fingers along several. He picked a dark blue hooded cloak with sparse embroidery. He pulled the fabric over an arm and stepped up to pay.

He ducked between two homes and slipped his blue ring into a small pouch at his belt as he settled the cloak around his shoulders. He pulled the hood up over his head and tied the clasp. He gave a quick spin to test the security of the clasp and then nodded.

Returning to the market, he strode to another vendor of hand pies on the opposite side. Link sniffed the air, but smelled only the pies down the market where Tala and Malo’s stall stood. 

_::They will have to do.::_ He rounded up a set of four meaty hand pies and an apple one with delicate edging work in the crust. The vendor smiled at him as the rupees clinked onto the counter. She wrapped the pies in thin paper and handed them to Link.

The youth devoured one of the meaty pies before he had wandered three steps back toward the front of the village. _::Not bad. Better than quail.::_ He put three of the remaining pies in his pouch.

He savored the next one as he looked for the Princess.

“Wandering off - some Hero. Pfah!” 

Link sighed,_ ::Must be close.::_ Link rounded a building, and something long and stiff tangled between his legs. Before he could slow, he tumbled over into the dirt.

A pair of long feet settled onto his back, and the butt of a staff planted into the ground by his head.

“Oh, yes.” The old man strode off and Link grumbled, standing up. He ate the last bite of his meat pie - which now tasted vaguely of dirt - and followed after the red-clad madman.

Rauru strode forward, a head above the crowd. He held a torch he had found somewhere in his left hand, while his right carried his staff as a walking stick, his cooking pot hanging from the ornate hook at its top.

By the torchlight, Link made out apples and pears hanging from several trees they passed. Some boughs carried peaches as well, and one sickly looking tree held small red fruits in clusters on its boughs. Link snagged one as he passed, and the fruit was soft and sweet, with a thick juice. The youth spat out the pit and chewed on the stem as he walked.

Rauru led the hero to a little grove in the center of the town. Nuts littered the branches of the trees and sparsely covered the ground as well. 

In the center of the grove was a wooden statue of a young woman playing an oblong flute. Moss crept down the statue’s head and covered her clothes. 

A ring of candles sat upon stones between the statue and the trees. The princess and her young friend sat in the grass in front of the statue, a candle between them. A cloaked figure stood crooked over, next to them, leaning on a gnarled walking stick.

Nearly violet hair fell out of the figure's red, hooded robe and partially obscured a strong nose.

Soari looked up as they approached and pointed a finger at Link, “That’s him, Impa! That’s the mean boy who said you lie!”

Zelda looked up at Link and chuckled, “Soari, don’t call him mean. Link rescued me from Death Mountain, you know.” She grabbed Link’s hand and pulled him down beside her.

Link smiled at the princess and settled himself into their circle. He looked up at Impa, smirking down at him from across the candle, lips curled around her large, crooked nose, “It’s true. She told me all sorts of lies while I was collecting pieces of the Triforce.”

The woman leaned her head back, hood and hair falling back as she cackled, “It is not my fault if the spirits uttered half-truths because you refused to pay them proper homage!”

Link rolled his eyes, his whole head following them in an exaggerated motion, “Riiight. Spiiiirits.”

He shook his head, “You just wanted all my money!” He fished into his bag.

The hero pulled a stoppered vial out and shook it at her, before replacing it, “Just like you made me pay so much for all those magic potions!”

The old woman’s eyes narrowed as she leaned forward over the candle on the stone.

Zelda giggled and elbowed Link in the side, “Give Impa some credit, Link!”

The youth stared at her, mouth half open and shook his head, “I have killed my share of ghosts, Princess. There weren’t any in the room when she’d charge me for her half-wrong advice.”

Impa stamped her walking stick in the dirt, “Do you think magic is easy, child? Do you think it is cheap?”

Link shrugged, ::I mean, waving my wand isn’t all that hard.::

Impa spat on him, “Disrespectful runt!”

Zelda gasped.

Link wiped the spit off his face and stood. He leaned up toward the old woman and narrowed his eyes at her, his ears laying flat. With a half spin he walked away.

“Impa!”

“I have no more words to waste on insolent children as that one.”

Link concentrated on not stomping as he moved away from them. When he could no longer see their circle or hear more than an occasional murmur carried to him upon the gentle wind, he slowed and stopped at a tree, sitting against it.

The night sky was cloudy, but between gaps in the clouds, he could see stars. He pulled out the spellbook and turned to the back. He opened it to a chart of constellations, the stars gently glowing on the page. He laid down with the book and searched for the constellations in the sky.

After lining up the book with the sky, he stared a bit more. With a sigh, he closed the book and sat up. He put the book away and started to lean back against the tree, when the wind carried distant sounding chimes to his ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a long time - at first for some geographical problems I didn't account for in preliminary planning, and then for new details that I discovered as I went along. What was outlined for one chapter split into at least two.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> 2549 words


	6. Music

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link learns a new song and hears an old one.

Link’s ears swiveled, and he turned his head. The chimes stopped, but then started again a moment later. He followed them as they led him away from the others and towards a cliff, steadily growing louder.

The chimes began to sing a playful melody, as leaves dancing in the breeze. They led him further yet, down a trail along the cliff and to a small set of shrines. Three stone monkeys sat in a row, wooden bowls set before them. The bowls each held a rotting fruit.

As Link came before the shrines, the music stopped.

The young Hylian looked about and then retraced his steps. At the top of the cliff stood a small apple tree. He plucked four fresh apples from its branches and snacked on one as he walked back down the trail.

He knelt before the shrines and pulled a securely capped candle on a red base from the bottom of his bag. He set the candle down before the shrines and removed the cap.

A small fire immediately sprang forth on the wick, dancing in the night wind.

Link bowed his head to the shrines for a moment and then picked up the bowls. He pitched the contents over the cliff and meticulously rubbed them clean with blades of grass. He returned them to the statues and bowed his head again.

The music returned, softly.

Link began, slowly, “Golden Goddesses, I do not know if this is your shrine.”

_ ::Ugh, this is silly.:: _ He looked about and then sighed, closing his eyes.

“I suppose all shrines are your shrines in a way.” _ ::Don’t the priests say all the world is their shrine?:: _

He kept his eyes closed, “I have done what I can. I saved the Princess. I saved Zelda.”

“You know that.” He quieted for a bit, listening to the wind and the chimes.

“She’s pretty.” He laughed sourly, _ ::They know that, too. Everyone does.:: _

“She’s kind to me.” He cocked his head to the side, “Well, mostly.”

“She’s offered to let me stay with her at the palace, but…”

“I don’t know if I can.”

The music continued on - eerily, irritatingly cheerful.

“The Princess calls me the Hero of Hyrule, but…”

He opened his eyes, damp and shining and turned to the cloudy night sky, “The Hero is dead. Ganon killed him. He broke the Master Sword with his magic and threw it in the volcano.”

He punched the ground with his fist, stone cracking as his knuckles scraped open and the Goron bracelet bounced along his wrist.

“I… I couldn’t do anything. They carried his body away and I… I couldn’t. Do. Anything.” He punctuated the words with more punches into the stone. He pulled his hand back, limp and bloody, gravel and dust embedded into his skin.

“If he’d had time. If he’d found all the help that I found… He would have taken Ganon down that day.”

He stared down at the bloody stones. “He was… always stronger than me.”

“I don’t want to play at being the Hero. Not any more.”

He looked up at the sky, “Do I have to go with her?”

The wind blasted his cloak with the same music.

He sighed and wiped his hand in the grass. The rock shards fell off in the blood. Fresh skin shone in the candlelight across the back of his hand. He felt some of his energy claimed, his focus frayed. _ ::No sword beams for a while.:: _

He drew his mouth into a savage grin and nodded off-tempo to the music, “Of course. The Hero must happily comply with the Goddesses plans.”

He sniffed and wiped his face on his cloak. He looked about and gathered up the apples, dropping them into the offering bowls.

As the last apple landed, a large nut shot into the grass in front of the middle statue. It cracked open explosively, releasing a massive dust cloud.

Link rocked onto his heels, pulling his cloak around his face.

He drew his sword as he jumped back wards onto his feet.

Gravels shot off the cliff beneath his boots and he took a breath, looking around his cloak.

“Yatta! You found me!” A gust blew the cloud away and revealed a tall, woody creature spinning behind the shrines.

It stood about a head taller than Link. Long, slender roots descended from a thick, chubby middle. The bottom pair appeared to serve for legs, while the top might function for arms. Near the top of the trunk, a large leaf contorted around the shape of the wood, opening and closing seamlessly onto itself. Curls of moss draped the top of the trunk and around the leaf like hair framing a face.

Link studied the dancing creature and lowered his sword, “What are you?”

“Yaha! I’m a korok, silly!” The creature stopped spinning and cocked its head at the Hylian.

It gasped, “You’re not Soari!” The woody creature lithely leapt forward, doing a backflip as it landed atop the middle statue.

“Wait.” It looked at him again. “That stance.” The creature crept forward and Link raised his sword again, turning.

The tall Korok offhandedly grabbed the candle with a rooty arm and slowly held it out to the youth, bending down to look under the hood.

After a moment, it stood up again and began to carelessly dance, tossing the candle back and forth, “It is you, it is you!”

“Hey, careful, you’re going to break that!” Link ran forward and jumped after the creature, reaching for the magical trinket.

“Yahaaa!” It danced back and jumped onto a ledge on the cliff. It held the candle in one root and pulled a set of pipes out of the air with a small pop. It began to blow on the instrument, calling out the same eerie melody that had drawn Link to the shrines.

Link laughed, “So it was you who called me here?”

“Let’s play!”

Link sheathed his sword and jumped at the cliff and began to scramble up. As he got close enough to almost touch the creature, it began to flip around, its rooty limbs lashing about and gripping the rock face as it rolled away from him. 

Link gripped at the rocks, nimbly climbing around in the dark, but every time he got close to the creature, it just rolled away again, laughing between notes of the song.

After a few rounds of chase, the korok slipped over the cliff face. Link scrambled up after it and saw it dancing away down a thin path between trees.

The brunette youth chased after the flickering light of the magic candle, gaining steadily until he burst into a small clearing. A large, flat stump sat in the middle, with a smaller stump nearby.

The korok rolled up onto the large stump and held the candle swaying in the air over its head in one root, faerie pipes still held within the other.

The korok beckoned with the pipes for Link to come closer, “Let’s play!”

Still gasping for breath from the chase, the youth walked up to the stump, “And what game will we play now, forest spirit?”

The woody creature giggled, “Not a game, now, but a song!” The korok played a scale on its pipes and waited.

Link sighed and fished his recorder out of his pouch, placing it to his lips.

“No, not there!”

Link stopped and looked sideways at the creature.

“We are going to talk to each other like trees!”

Link glanced at the short stump and walked over to it. He stepped onto it and faced the korok on the larger stump. He played a few phrases of long, haunting notes.

“Oh, that’s so sad!” The korok shook its face, “I know a happier version of Eroll’s Lullaby!” 

Link stared at the korok as it played several phrases in a major key, notes lifting high, but still strolling along at a leisurely pace. His eyes widened after the creature passed the first measures and continue on with the melody.

“Where did you learn that song, spirit?”

The korok flailed at him with its limbs, “Stop calling me spirit! I have a name, you know?”

It sat down on the stump, leaning down to him, “Don’t you remember me, Link?”

He shook his head, “I have never seen a korok before, spirit.”

He cocked his head, “And how did you know my name?”

The creature looked down at him again and then slowly stood, “Oh. I forgot.”

“You died.” 

It turned around, looking away from him, “You lived and you died. Then you lived again.”

It pointed into the cloudy night, “I forgot. You taught me to read the stars and learn the times, but I forgot, Link.”

The korok stared up at the night sky.

“It’s been hundreds of years since you were here.” It sat down again, still facing away.

“So. That means you died.” It slipped off of the trunk to the grass behind, the wind carrying its next word to his hylian ears, “Again.”

Link slowly stepped off of the stump and walked around to where the forest spirit sat, cradling the red magic candle far too close. Smoke rose around the sides of its leafy mask.

“The man in black armor - he came to our wood. Father died and you left. Then… then the moon danced so many times before you returned. You were big.” She looked at him slowly, “Bigger than now. Because hylians grow up.”

Link reached a hand out to touch the root holding the candle, stroking it gently, “You are burning, spirit.”

“I know, Link.” The leafy face contorted into pain, “We aren’t built to hurt, Link. Koroks don’t know how to cry.” It pulled the candle closer.

“But when I remember you, when I truly remember, I hurt.”

Link kept trying to pull the candle away, but the korok would not let go.

“We were friends. More than friends.” The creature looked into the flame, “The Hylians have a word for it.”

It looked back up at him, “Brother. You were my brother, Link. I was your sister.”

Link laughed, quietly, “Brother of a tree, hmm? Sounds like this Link you knew had an interesting life.”

She shook her face, “Not just a Link I knew. You.”

She slowly reached a root out and stroked his face, “And not you as well.”

She slowly uncurled her root around the candle, letting him take it. Her face was darkly singed around the edges, much of the mossy hair dried to a sickly yellow.

She stood and bowed before him, “I am called Saria - although not many still know the name to belong to me.”

Link reached out for one of her roots with his left hand and shook it, “It is good to meet you Saria. I’m sorry you lost your brother.”

He looked up at her face, still twisted into pain, “But if you’d like, I can be your friend?”

The strange wooden girl’s face slowly softened, turning from pain to something else, “You will be my friend again, Link?”

Link looked at her and smiled before nodding.

The spirit jumped into the air, flipping around, “Yaha! Yaaaahaa! What a good day! Or. Well. Night!”

She looked up into the dark sky, “If only Father were here to see it.”

She looked back down at him, crispy face grinning, “Well if you are going to be my friend, we will have to share all our songs! All of my friends know my song, Link!”

She danced around the clearing, playing the chipper melody on her pipes again.

Link softly set the candle upon the tall trunk and placed his recorder to his lips. He followed her around, jumping and laughing and playing music.

The song filled his mind and his fingers, pulling itself out of his instrument. Link closed his eyes and let the music pull him around behind the korok. He danced around stones and roots, the notes guiding him.

“Saria!”

Link opened his eyes and saw the forest-blonde kid. He stopped playing and looked to the korok.

She danced over to the child, lifting it into the air on her roots, “Soari! It’s sooo good to see you! Did you have a good day today?”

She settled the kid behind her face and they gripped her trunk with their legs, “It was a great day, Saria! Ms. Impa said Zeldy would come back today, and then she did! We’ve been eating over by your statue. I kinda hoped you would come and say, ‘Hi.’”

Saria laughed, dancing around and juggling small rocks as Soari watched and clapped, “I’m sorry, Soari, but I’ve been too busy playing with my old friend Link.”

Soari looked over at the young hero, “Oh, I didn’t see you there.”

They leaned down and whispered into Sarias’ trunk, “Are you sure he’s your friend? He’s not very nice to Impa.”

Link rolled his eyes, ::Do I look like a round-ear to him?::

He moved to the tall trunk and sat on its side, returning to a more somber tune.

Saira laughed, “Miss Impa’s always been grumpy with Link, Soari.”

She danced around again to face Link, “You’ll learn soon enough not to let their bickering bother you.”

Saria played haunting phrases on the edges of his melody. After a few measures, Soari fished a pink oblong flute from a satchel on their side.

The forest-blonde boy lifted the flute to their mouth and joined them, accenting the more poignant notes as Link played.

Link allowed the melody to fall to a sorrowful conclusion, but Saria picked it up on her pipes, flourishing and bringing it into a major key as she had earlier. Soari soon joined her on the round flute, passing the melody back and forth and embellishing upon it with trills.

Link listened and closed his eyes, falling through the notes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was so bittersweet to write. I hope it imparts some of the emotions I felt while writing it.
> 
> 2319 words


	7. Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Linkle spends some time on the farm at Lon Lon Ranch.
> 
> Yes folks, you are still in the write fan-fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: This chapter contains instances of casual racism, bullying, violence, rejection sensitivity, and self-harm. 
> 
> Please take care of yourself. This was not easy to write, and may not be easy to read.

Freckles speckled the hylian child’s fair face, and auburne hair framed it as it spread messily out onto the grass-green pillow sheet.

A gentle breeze filtered in through an open window, kissing the child’s hair in the dim of pre-dawn.

A rooster cucco leapt nimbly onto the sill of the window and turned to face the sky, ignoring the child upon the pine-framed bed. It took in a deep breath and belted out a rousing call to the morning fields. The mallow-white and stone-gray bird looked upon the field and took in another deep breath. It reared back to let out another call.

SHATTER.

The cucco let out a surprised squawk as it fell to the ground outside amid a cloud of dust and shards of clay.

“Link!” Footsteps thundered on the stone floors as a low alto called out, “ Are you ok?”

The child rubbed at their eyes and started to yawn, when a battle cry sounded outside the window. The kid’s eyes shot open wide as a flock of angry squawking birds flew in through the open window. In an outright panic they jumped under the blanket, which did little to protect from the sharp beaks and talons of their raptoral assailants.

In a tumble, blanket, hylian, and cuccos rolled off the bed and then under it, the lightly bleeding child freeing themself of the blanket and bed just in time for the door to the room to be flung open.

“Link! What in the world?!” A thick and tall woman with a mess of long dark curly hair stood in the doorway, mouth open at the sight of the chase.

The child hoisted up its over-long green bed tunic and sprinted to the door. They slid under and through the woman’s dress skirts, panting heavily.

The woman let out a shriek and stumbled backwards and to the side as the flock of cawing beasts flew through the doorway after the miscreant child.

A heavy door slammed open and the slapping footfalls and cawing birds faded into the distance.

The woman caught her breath, hand to her aproned chest and then pulled her hand away, lips curling at the sight of the gray-white filth coming off of her apron.

She drew in a great breath of her own, “LINKLE!”

Mid-race to the Lon-lon watering hole, the child faintly heard the scream and hunched her shoulders. She wove a figure eight pattern around a pair of trees to confuse some of the cucco and then sprinted for the pond, nearly out of breath.

With a great gasp, she jumped in, diving deep. After a few strokes, she turned up and surfaced, paddling frantically. She turned to face the shore of the pond and saw the flock of cucco, scratching at the dirt.

The rooster strode to the front, shouldering past the others. It leveled its beak at the child, and squawked, loud and long. With a loud huff, it pivoted and strutted back towards the farmhouse and the coops. The rest of the flock followed and the child desperately swam to the shore, collapsing into the mud to catch her breath.

A nearby curious cow wandered over and nudged the girl, who groaned and shoved the beasts head away.

“I warned you not to mess with the cucco, Linkle,” the low tenor chuckled.

Linkle looked up. A short brunette man brushed a cow nearby, clothed in dark browns and greens. Linkle sighed, “It’s early. I’m tired.”

The man dropped the brush in a pocket of his work apron and reached a hand out to Linkle, dodging a questing cow snout, “Hi tired, I’m Errol.”

Linkle groaned as he hoisted her to her feet.

Errol pulled his hand free from hers and wiped mud off onto the grass. “Tired, huh? What you are is filthy.”

Linkle crossed her arms and huffed.

Errol reached out and ruffled her ragged brown hair, “Well since you’re already filthy, why don’t you go muck out some stalls until Tala finishes breakfast?

Linkle stomped her feet, “But Errol! I’m hungry now!” She looked up at him between locks of wet, sagging hair.

He laughed, “You just don’t want to muck out the stalls, kid.” 

Errol crouched a little and bent, putting his hands on his knees, “But with the trouble you caused for Tala by upsetting her cucco, you really don’t want her to find you not working.”

He stood back up, “And the dirtier the job, the better. It’s almost like saying you’re sorry, only better.”

The young girl stared up at him, “That’s not saying sorry at all!”

He smiled down at her, “Like I said, Linkle - it’s better. Doing something for someone that they know you don’t want to do is a good way to show you feel bad.”

He turned her towards the barn and leaned over to give her a firm swat on the rump.

Linkle yelped as she leapt forward and glared over her shoulder at him, rubbing her bottom.  
.  
“Pancakes and bacon, girl! Don’t slack off or it will all be cold before you get yours.”

Linkle gasped and began to run, darting off to the wide-open doors of the barn.

With all the cattle out of the way doing their morning grazing, she had plenty of room to get to mucking out the stalls. She grabbed the muck cart and shovel, picking out the smaller, partially dried clumps first.

She wrinkled her nose as the shovel bit into a moist patty and released a bubble of stench.

Linkle dropped the shovel and ran out of the barn, gagging. She moved around the barn door, and collapsed to the ground, gasping in deep breaths of mostly clean air.

Bare, dusty feet with hairy toes slapped the ground in front of her face and Linkle groaned.

“Hey, Freckles!” The boy’s cheerful greeting rained gravel on the girl’s nerves and she sighed.

“Hey, Malo.”

The fire-haired boy looked down on her kneeling in the dirt, “Something wrong? You not feeling well, Freckles?”

“You could say that,” She got to her feet, “One of the cows left me a real stinkbomb in there.”

He took a big breath of air. “Huh, I don’t smell anything.”

Linkle rolled her eyes, “That’s because your nose is as blind as your ears are round, dummy.”

“Ha, well.” He frowned a little bit and then smiled back at her, “Tala says that round ears are good for listening to the ground and animals, ya know?” He beamed down at her with a big grin. A long piece of grass was wedged in the small gap between his two large front teeth.

“Uh huh. Whatever you say, Malo.”

He clapped a hand on her shoulder and strode past her into the barn, “C’mon, Freckles! Tala always says, ‘Sooner done - “

“ - sooner finished,” LInkle ended. She sighed and slummed back into the barn, picking up her shovel and getting back to work as Malo cleaned out the dirtier hay with a pitch fork and spread some fresher fare with a rake.

They wheeled the filth to the dung pile on the far side of the farm, and - after they put the cart back - they raced each other to the well to get clean.

Malo won, of course, with his long, gangly legs.

Linkle grumbled all through washing up, until Malo dumped a nearly full bucket of cold water on her head, “That should cool you off, Freckles!”

Linkle shrieked and chased him all the way back to the house.

Tala was waiting at the door, a large wooden-handled spatula in hand.

Linkle almost managed to dodge a swift swat as she ran in the door, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Sorry!” She dove under the table and came up sitting on a bench on the other side, next to Talo.

A skinny woman with stringy black hair sat at one end of the table, and she looked down her long, straight nose at Linkle, “That girl needs discipline, Errol. You are too soft on her.”

Linkle shoveled a pancake onto her plate and spooned syrup onto it until Tala laughed and took the little ladle away. Linkle stuck her tongue out across the table at her and then spread the sticky-sweet mess around the golden treat.

Errol rubbed his hair and then reached over and ruffled Linkle’s damp locks as well, “Well, she’s a little slow on the uptake with chores, I know, but she’s getting used to farm life.” He grinned across the table at the lanky woman.

She glared in return, “She would learn quicker if you didn’t coddle her.” Her soprano had a sharp bite to it.

Linkle took a small bite of her pancake and let the morsel dance around her mouth, filling it with sweetness.

“Ingra!” Tala’s mellow voice cut in as she brought platters of pancakes and bacon over, “Little Link is not our child, so it is not our place to -”

“As long as they live on our farm, it IS our place, Tala!” Her eyes threw brands of flaming disdain upon Linkle, “Your disrespect for others’ property passes over the border of carelessness and firmly into the territory of callousness.”

Ingra closed her eyes and took a breath. She opened them again, staring at Errol, “Last week, after Temple, I found her on Malo’s back - she had his arms pulled up behind him and was making him call her a Darknut!”

Errol laughed and ruffled Linkle’s hair as he chewed a large bite of pancake, “Got ‘em good, eh Link?”

Linkle beamed up at him as Ingra looked on with a gaping mouth.

“You’re - encouraging - this behavior?” Bile dropped from her words, and Linkle could almost see steam rising from the table where it dripped.

Errol looked up at her with wide eyes, “Uhh…”

“Malo was crying, Errol!”

Malo, sat up straight, “I wasn’t cryin’ Ingra!”

Ingra slammed a fist onto the table like a mallet, “And did I imagine your nose bleeding as well, Malo?”

“Uh.” Malo looked over to Linkle and then dropped his gaze, “No, ma’am.”

Errol rubbed his neck and looked over to Linkle who was staring at a pancake in front of her and not moving, “Look, Ingra, she was just having a little fun -”

“Fun? And do you think Malo was having fun bleeding into the dirt?”

“I -”

“Look, Errol.” Ingra took a breath and gripped the edge of the table, firmly, “I don’t know what passes for ‘fun’ for kni…”

Tala twitched and Ingra’s chair scraped against the floor a few inches.

Ingra’s knuckles turned white on the table. “For… children of knights. But around here, us round-ears expect a life of peace.”

Errol ate another bite of pancake. He chewed for a minute and looked around the table. Malo avoided his gaze, and so did Linkle. Tala gave him a half smile and a small shrug.

He reached out and gently grabbed Linkle’s shoulder, “It looks like you’ll only be able to play Lord Darknut with me, ok, Linkle?”

“I…” Linkle looked down at her plate and glared back up at Ingra, “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Young lady, you watch y-”

Linkle stood up on the bench and stomped her foot, “I will NOT watch my tone! You stupid round-ears and your stupid peace and your stupid farm! My parents are proud Hylian knights and they are out there fighting a war so that you can have your stupid peace!”

She looked down and grabbed her almost untouched pancake.

Errol sat up straight, “Linkle, what are you -”

“And you can have your stupid pancake, too!”

She hurled the flapping, dripping disc at the farmgirl and it slapped her straight in the face, impaling slightly on her pointed nose. If fell with a smack onto the bosom of her dress, and she blinked. Her mouth hung open but nothing resembling words found a way out of it.

Tala shook her head and put her face in her hands, “Linkle, you really should not have done that.”

“I!” Linkle looked down at Malo who was trying to hide a grin and up at Errol whose brow was knit closely together, “Brother, I!”

She spun and leapt out the window behind her.

“Here, Ingra, lets get you cleaned up.”

Linkle ran past the coop. She ran past the barn. She ran up the hill beyond the barn and squeezed through the fence on the other side. She ran until her feet ached and bled.

Then she hobbled to a boulder and climbed onto it to sit. She picked at the sores on her feet, trying to peel the torn skin away so she could walk easier.

It only hurt worse.

She leaned her bloodied, aching feet into the cold boulder and hugged her legs.

Linkle sobbed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Perhaps this backstory makes sense, and perhaps it does not. Feel encouraged to comment and ask questions (or point out typos).
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	8. Afterdusk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Soari return to the others and plans are made for the immediate future.

Link put his recorder back to his lips and joined in on Saria and Soari’s playing. His eyes lay shut upon his face, but his ears twitched to the music, and his shoulders danced gently to the beat.

As Saria and Soari let the tune ride to a cheerful end, Link dropped it into an arpeggiated scale to the bottom of the flute’s range. He slid the notes into a major key up-tempo fanfare.

The fanfare carried on for some measures before dimming into a peaceful jig of broken chord triads, which twisted in on itself with a spike of sharps leaving its key and emerging into a mess of unmelodic notes that spiked hard and fast leaps of staccato octaves.

Soari flinched at the dissonance resulting from Link’s playing, and Saria slumped over on her roots, leaning in towards him.

The notes he played became more and more frantic, climbing into a frenetic mess of noise. The octaves crashed into a stop for a short moment, then, just after the last ghostly echoes had died down in the clearing, a minor serenade emerged, crying into the night. The song came to a slow, painful conclusion.

Link still held the recorder to his lips, eyes closed.

Saria turned her wooden head at him, “Link?”

Soari lowered his ocarina and Saria put her pipes away into the air. She waved a fibrous arm in front of his face. 

He opened his eyes at his name, but they stared vacuosly into the night.

“Link.” Soari had walked over as well.

“Oh.” Saria turned to Soari, “He’s not here right now.”

Soari looked up at her, “Huh? But Saria, he’s right there. Of course he’s here right now.”

Saria shook her head, “No, Soari - his body is here, but your eyes fool you - his mind is somewhen else entirely.”

She turned back to the hero, “I have an old friend who would do the same thing once. I haven’t seen him in a long time, though.” She waved her rooty arm in his face again.

Soari waved his hand in front of Link’s face and then looked up to Saria, “Will he be ok? It can’t be good to be somewhere else than where you are can it?”

Saria giggled, “Oh, it’s not as serious as all that, Soari, but you are sweet to worry.”

She pulled her pipes back out of the air, “Besides, I still know a way to reach him.”

She began to play the spritely dance of the forest that Link had followed to find her in the first place.

::Link.::

The hero’s eyes focused in and out briefly.

::Link! Come on brother-friend!::

Link blinked and shook his head, ::Huh?::

::Come on! Soari’s worried about you!::

Link looked around, “What?” He focused in on Saria and Soari, “Oh - did I fall asleep?”

He rubbed at his eyes, “Sorry about that. I guess I should get back to the others.”

Saria groaned, “But Link, I wanted to play some more!”

Soari patted her side, “Don’t worry, Saria - Link has to go with Zeldy, but I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Saria giggled, “I know you will, Soari - you are a great friend!”

Soari grinned at her and then looked back to Link, “Come on, Hero! Lets get you back to Zeldy and Impa.”

He grabbed Link’s hand and drug him back towards the light forest. 

Link looked over his shoulder to wave at Saria, but only flowers and the stumps stood in the clearing. He shivered and followed Soari.

The child guided him back in little time, as if some magical compass in his skull zoned in on the group around the statue.

Zelda waved as they entered the edge of the candlelight, “Ah, you did find our wayward Hero, Soari! Good job!”

The green-blonde boy smiled brightly at the princess and skipped over to the group, sitting down next to Impa, who leaned deeply into the base of the statue.

She reached down a gnarled hand and smoothed his hair, “Welcome back, grandchild.”

He smiled up at her and idly played with the grass as he stared into a candle.

“So as we were saying, Impa; Link and Rauru are escorting me to the Northern Palace.” The princess sidled over and threw her left arm around Soari’s shoulders, playing with his hair with her right hand.

The child grinned and leaned into her.

Impa grunted, “Yes, I suppose your uncle, the King, will want to see you shortly, safe and well.”

Zelda mirrored Soari’s grin to Impa, “Of course!”

“It is a peaceful place to camp.” With a series of sounds like the snapping of cooked bones, Rauru uncurled from his slouch over his staff and began to set about the clearing, gathering deadwood.

Impa nodded, “Of course, you may keep your peace here under Saria’s protection, old friend.”

The crone looked over to the princess, “But you will be coming to the inn with me, young lady, and I won’t broker an argument.”

Zelda giggled and tucked stray locks of hair behind her ears, “Of course, madame nursemaid.”   


The purple-haired elder grunted, “And in the morning, I will embark with you towards the palace - do not even think of trying to leave without me.”

Soari looked up, eyes wide, “You’re leaving, Granny? But you just came back!”   
  
Impa’s face softened and she laid a bony hand on the kid’s shoulder, “Soari - you are my favorite grandson - but you know I have other matters that need me.”

Soari threw his gaze back upon the candle and hugged his knees.

“Soari, do you understand?”   
  
“I know, I know!” He hugged his knees tighter and shook a little.   
  
Impa let out a quiet sigh and looked up to Zelda, “Come - it is late and I need to return Soari to his mother.”   
  
Zelda smiled softly at the green-haired boy and nodded, standing slowly and stretching. Her stomached grumbled loudly as she reached for the night stars. She looked down at it, aghast.   
  
Link perked up and reached into his satchel, pulling out a paper-wrapped treat, “That’s, right, I had forgotten! I bought a pie for you!”   
  
Before he could reach out to offer the pie to Zelda, lean, wrinkled hands had snatched it and brought it up to a bearded face, peeling the paper back and inhaling the flaky pastry. Crumbs decorated his beard as he turned back to his pile of wood, holding a lit candle to the base until it caught.   
  
“I didn’t buy it for you, Old Man.” Link shook his head and grabbed another pie, holding it out to the smirking princess, “Sorry, Zelda, he took the only fruit one.”   


She laughed softly and reached out, grabbing the pie and Link’s hand in the same motion. She brought them to her mouth and kissed his hand, “Thank you for the food, Hero.”

Link blushed fiercely and his hand twitched.

Zelda still held it and looked into his eyes, “Will you be coming to the inn with us?”   
  
“Uhhh... “ Link looked over at Impa and her narrowed eyes, “I prefer to sleep under the sky, actually.”

Zelda slowly dropped his hand, “Oh.”

Impa began to walk back to the village, “Come along children.”   
  
Soari leapt up and skipped over to follow her. Zelda looked after them and then dropped her gaze to Link again, “I’ll see you in the morning, Link.” She smiled a little, but her ears drooped as she walked off with the others.   
  
Link heard the rustling of paper mingle with her footsteps, followed with a pleased hum. He watched her ears perk back up and smiled after her until her form disappeared among the trees.

Rauru strode over, “C’mon girl, help me shore up the fire so we can get some sleep.”

Link bristled, and stared, eyes wide at the old man, “G-girl? I’m not a girl!”   
  
Rauru blinked, “Are you not?” He stroked his beard, “I can never seem to remember.” He shrugged, “Well c’mon then, boy.”

He was gouging out a trench along the border of the fire he had started with the edge of his staff.   
  
Link hopped over and pulled his trowel from his satchel, “Here, let me.”   
  
“Thank you, Hero.”   
  
Link looked up a little as he dug. The old man was leaning on his staff and watching him with bright, clear eyes. “You seem… “ Link shook his head and went back to digging.   
  
“Sane? Lucid?”

Link dug faster, humming loudly.   
  
“Don’t be embarrassed boy. I am not.” He gathered more deadwood into a pile away from the fire.

Link loosely piled the extra dirt on top of the grass around the trench and sat back on his heels, looking at Rauru, “So… is the crazy an act then?”   
  
The old man laughed, a bitter and sour noise, “I would that it were, boy.”

He seemed satisfied with the pile of wood and lowered himself to the ground with the aid of his staff, “The others are asleep. With the peace of the night ahead, there is less noise.”

Link watched as he heaved a tired sigh.   
  
“I must join them, or my body and mind will struggle on the morrow.”   
  
Link and Rauru laid on opposite sides of the fire.   
  
The night breeze was chilly, even with the warmth of the flames on him. Link opened his eyes and stared at the stars. A favorite constellation jumped at him: the Princess.   
  
Link brought his hand to his lips, thoughts of burrows and magic books and pies dancing in his head.   
  
“The stars will give you no guidance tonight, Hero. Sleep.”   
  
Link closed his eyes and tried to obey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hm. A shorter chapter than I would like, but I think it is the correct end of the scene. /shrug


	9. Drawbridge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Rauru find themselves at the Great Drawbridge of Saria Town.
> 
> Link also finds his head occupied by voices, both real and imagined.

Link managed a few hours of chilled rest upon the damp blanket of grass before the statue.

Then he stirred to see a large bird perched upon Rauru’s staff. He grumbled and rolled over, closing his eyes.

The avian bellowed a loud questioning sound.

Link blinked and sat up, rubbing at his eyes. The bird stayed perched upon the staff over the dying embers of their fire, but turned its head completely around to stare at him.

Its beak opened, slightly and it cooed.

Link’s brows raised and he rubbed at his eyes with one hand, fingering his sword’s hilt with the other.

A grumble came from where the old man lay. He flailed an arm out and stretched, grunting.

A moment later, the bird released an offended sound and took to the air. 

Link shook his head and went to lay it back down upon the grass, but blanched. He coughed and pulled his hat down in front of his nose and mouth, glaring at the old man over the yellowed brim.

Rauru made a contented noise and then began to snore.

Link’s eyes narrowed and he stood, walking into the cover of the trees for a bit. He relieved himself and found a little pond to wash up in. He began to hum to himself and then wandered back to the camp. He stirred the fire back up and laid down, giving up the song after a particularly loud snore and laying with both arms over his head.

::Ah, don’t stop! I was enjoying the music!::

Link’s eyes shot open and he got to his knees, looking around, “Saria?”

::Yep!::

His ears twitched. The night air was perfectly still.

::You… can you hear me?:: He felt silly, thinking to someone else in his own head.

::Sure can, Link! You caught on really quick.:: The voice laughed and Link felt a brush of brisk wind in his mind, and could almost smell sage simmering in a tuber soup.

::This... It’s amazing, Saria. How come you can hear me?::

::It’s because you sang my song, silly! I told you all my friends know my song!::

Link hummed the trilling notes again, softly, and gentle pipes played in his mind in response.

::I wish you didn’t have to leave tomorrow, Link. There’s so many places I want to show you here in the little forest.::

Link smiled and laid down, blankly staring at the stars, ::Oh? What do you want to show me, Saria?::

A giggle sounded softly, ::Well, there’s all the funny statues the people made. They are so fun to play around! Soari likes to swing on their arms and dart under their legs.::

::Hm. He’s pretty energetic, yeah.::

::And there’s so many different little animals scattered around! Sometimes Soari and I will drop acorns on them when they aren’t looking. You should’ve seen Soari running from Sally Badger last moon!::

Saria kept on, without a breath, and soon Rauru’s snores were quiet dronings.

Link soared through the fields between copses of trees, a sparrow darting after a butterfly. He flew around to little waterfalls and giant trees. He flew under a pair of trees whose roots lifted up out of the ground as if dancing, darting in the tunnel between them.

Animals and flowers called out to him. Trees waved. Mischievous squirrel-children tossed berries at his face as he sped past them, their moistness staining his feathers.

And then a darkly spectacled, massive, feathered face poked out of a treehole, “Enough with you, Little Bird. I may be trying to sleep, but it is time for you to wake!”

Link stared up at the face as it loomed over him, turning side-to-side and upside down in a madcap rhythm.

“What’s the matter, Little Bird? Do you want to hear that again?”

Link opened his eyes. False dawn lit the sky a somber blue-gray. Pipes inaudibly sounded out the music of the forests, percussed by the curses of a careening elder.

::Sorry I fell asleep, Saria.::

A giggle, ::That’s ok, Link. Just because you’re sleeping doesn’t mean I can’t have fun!::

At the sound of rapid popping, Link glanced over at Rauru, his long beard bunching against the dirt and grass as he gathered up his supplies from the ground. When he stood, every joint in his back protested loudly. Each report of his spine broke the air as a stressed branch finally snapping from undue pressure.

Link’s brow climbed close to his hair line as he witnessed the affair.

The old man gasped and grunted through the affair, and then grinned with a row of half-missing teeth, “Oh, yes, I’d be happy for a ride. I am long since used to trekking the world on my own wing, but a cushioned seat now and then does a world of good for the bones.”

The old man strode off into the trees alone.

Link rubbed his eyes and tugged on his ears, grumbling, ::Back to the insanity.::

::Oh?:: A few moments of silence passed, followed by a gasp, ::You mean Rauru? He’s only half so crazy as us Koroks, you know!”

Link laughed, ::I’ll take your word for it.::

He looked around the makeshift camp and off to the tree line, ::So, Saria… Is this just how it’s going to be now, with you in my head?::

::Huh? Oh! No, if you need quiet anytime, you can just bring the song to a nice clean end. And then, if you wanna talk again, just sing some more!:: The pan pipes resolved to a dominant chord, and then were gone.

Link nodded and snuck off to the trees to attend to his morning needs. When he returned, he belted on his satchel and tools, before trotting off after Rauru.

The old man was muttering. Occasional words like prince, darkness, and destiny escaped past the muffle of his beard.

Link shook his head and paid attention to the trees, snagging several fruits as they walked by

By the time the hero had finished an apple and a tender, juicy peach, the bearded man had led him to an actual road, paved with cobbled stone. The road led up to a pair of tall guard towers standing over a precipice, a massive bridge of wood held erect between them.

The old man walked straight up to the drawbridge and stood, as if his presence would cause the towering machine to open its maw and allow passage beyond.

Link walked up to him and gently touched his hand, looking up into his eyes. They stared straight into the wood.

The boy waved his other hand in the man’s gaze but he was unfazed.

“Don’t you see? The river zora have broken the chains! We cannot pass this way now! We will need to find another path. A hidden passage…” Rauru trailed off and turned his gaze westward towards the mountain range.

Link shook his head.

The lad’s ears twitched as the sound of creaking wood and well-oiled metal reached them. He glanced at a lightly armored man exiting one of the guard towers. A heavy mace hung from his hip, and a small shield was buckled on to each of his forearms. The mace swung ponderously as he walked over to them.

Link waved.

The man gave him a half nod and looked at Rauru. He raised his brows lightly, “Sorry elder, but we have no plans to lower the bridge today.”

Link stepped in front of the old man, “Sorry, guardsman. Old man here’s brain doesn’t work too well in the daytime.” he patted Rauru’s arm slowly and then looked back to the guard.

“I think he just wants us to wait for the rest of our party here.”

“Uh… huh.” The guardsman looked them both up and down and then nodded.

“It is good of you to watch out for your elders like this, boy.”

He pointed at the climbing sun, just stretching free of its morning colors, “Now mind the sun - with a balding head like that he’ll burn awful if you let him.”

The guard ushered them into the shade of the guard tower and then wrinkled his nose. He fished a clean handkerchief out of a pocket and handed it to Link, before gesturing to the old man’s mouth. It was hanging open and drool was collecting in his beard.

“Carry on, then.” With another set of creaks, the man disappeared back into the tower.

Link looked up at Rauru’s face and raised his brows. His nose scrunched up and his ears laid down as he reached up with the handkerchief and dabbed at the man’s beard. He nudged his mouth closed and tucked the kerchief into his belt, trying to ignore the moisture clinging to his skin.

He sat down in the dirt and leaned against the building. He pulled out his flute, passing the time with a series of trills and melodies.

The hero closed his eyes as he played. Thoughts of Zelda, firing arrows into a slew of monsters popped into his head. He saw himself flinging sword beams amongst the beasts; scattering them for her to pick off.

They finished off the beasts and she turned to him, grinning, “Thank you again, Hero of Hyrule.”

He saw himself walking up to her. She pulled her red locks behind her ears and bent over to…

Link opened his eyes, ::To what exactly?:: He looked down at the flute in his hands and then tucked it away in its pouch. 

The boy shook his head, ::May as well get rid of these thoughts, Link. She could never be with a boy like you.::

He looked down the road, ::Still no sign of them.::

He stood and stretched, peering up at Rauru, ::I don’t think he’s even blinked.:: 

He scanned his surroundings with a sigh. A small path found its way between the bridge supports and the guard tower they were resting by. With a shrug, he wandered down the path. It dipped down at a slight slope, before ending at a ledge overlooking the precipice. A small wooden sign was posted at the entrance to the ledge.

“Do not throw rocks.” Link snorted and approached the edge slowly. A small pile of rocks sat nearby and he smirked. He sat beside them and dangled his legs over the edge. He looked off to the other side. 

::Must be at least a hundred feet.:: The other cliff looked distant and empty, save for its own guard towers and bridge.

Between the cliffs, a tall needle of land proudly stood, reaching for the sky. It’s top was barren, but for a small shack and a few wiry bushes. Link scanned down to where the needle sprang from, splitting the rapids of a foaming, rushing river. 

He began to get a little dizzy and laid back, closing his eyes for a moment. Then he crawled around and lay so that his head rested on his arms at the ledge. His eyes scanned the little paths at the edge of the river below, on either side of the chasm.

He could just make out disused paths up and down the cliffs, patrolled by the occasional goat. Further downstream, the river and the chasm bent out of view. He turned his head the other way.

Upstream, he could see hints of a mighty waterfall far in the distance, coursing down from the western mountains and splitting the land in two at the chasm, ::Wow. It looks even bigger than the Royal falls of the Zora.::

Looking back below his perch, he saw a water wheel chugging along, spun merrily by the river water. Across the chasm, he spied another one below the other bridge. Each sported a chain running up to the guard towers, ::Huh, so I guess that’s how they raise and lower those great big things.”

He sat back on his haunches and then stood, dusting himself off. He strode back up the short path, finding Rauru still alone and staring blankly into the wood of the bridge.

He shook his head and sat down again, ::May as well settle in. We might be here a while.::

He sighed and leaned his head against the cool stone wall, closing his eyes and trying very hard to think of nothing - and especially no flame-haired princesses - at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this chapter over the span of a couple weekends. I've actually gotten the next one written already, and plan on posting it soon. We'll see if I remember.


	10. Faerie Milk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Linkle's feet are a bloody mess from tearing off through the field barefoot.
> 
> Errol shows her the secret of Lon Lon Ranch.

Trotting hooves sounded off behind Linkle sometime after midday. She did not turn to look and continued to stare straight ahead at the neighboring fields.

Cotton rustled on leather as a rider dismounted and strode up to her.

She smelled saddle oil and vanilla as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her.

They stayed in silence for some time.

“Is she okay?”

A high chuckle, “Ingra? You know how she is.” He giggled a little, “She won’t ever let us forget it, but she’s fine.”

“Do we…” Linkle swallowed, “have to move back to the city, now?”

Errol moved one of his hands to ruffle her hair, “Ha, you’d like that wouldn’t you! Next time you throw a pancake at someone I’ll know you’re just trying to go home!”

“What? No!” Linkle looked to the side, “I was angry. Ingra thinks she knows everything, but she’s just a dumb round-ear.”

A sharp pain struck her left ear, and she clapped her hand over it and spun around on her knees. Errol held one hand out in a flicking motion.

“Brother - why did you do that!” Linkle edged away, holding her right hand out in front of her protectively.

The dark-haired young man crossed his arms over his chest, “Being a round-ear doesn’t make someone dumb.”

Linkle rubbed at her ear, eyes narrowed up at her brother, “I know that. Tala’s pretty bright for a farmgirl.”

Errol buried his brow in one of his palms, and sighed, “Linkle… do you know what makes us Hylian?”

She looked at him as though he had grown a cockscomb, “I’m not stupid, Errol.” She raised her hands to her ears and gently flapped them at him.

He shook his head gently, “Well, that’s part of it yeah, but…” He trailed off and wandered over to the horse he had ridden to find her, gently guiding it to the boulder.

He fished a pair of brushes out of a saddle bag, handing one to the young girl, “Why do we have long ears, Linkle?”

Linkle shrugged, brushing the horse’s front shoulder, “Duh, to hear the goddesses. Everyone knows that.”

Errol looked over the horse at her for a moment, and then went back to brushing, “Ok, and why do we need to listen to the goddesses?”

“Uh…” Linkle brushed harder and the horse leaned in, “To be better, I guess.”

Errol frowned and brushed at something on the other side, “Better?”

“Yeah, you know.” She played with the horse’s mane a bit between her fingers, “Smarter. Stronger.”

She stopped brushing for a moment, but her lips kept moving.

Linkle looked up, “Braver.”

“...And?” Errol looked over the horse again and locked eyes with his sister.

“And…? And what?” Linkle scratched at her scalp.

“Power. Courage. Wisdom.” She held three fingers up. “I’m outta Goddesses here, bro!”

“Does being powerful; and courageous; and wise - do those things make a person good?”

Linkle looked sideways at him and vigorously brushed at the horse’s flank, “Well yeah. What else is there?”

Errol leaned into the saddle and crossed his arms on it, “What about kindness?”

She laughed, “You silly boy! There’s no goddess of kindness. Well, unless maybe you count Hylia.” Linkle cocked her head to the right and turned her eyes up to the left, “I don’t really know what Hylia is the goddess of.”

“Time.”

“Time?” Linkle blew a raspberry at her brother, “What a stalshit thing to be goddess of. Like time needs a goddess. That’s nothing like Power, Courage, and Wisdom.”

Errol reached out and flicked her other ear. 

“Owww!”

He cocked his head at her and raised his brows, “Language.”

She grumbled something halfway under her breath about stupid adults and their stupid rules.

“I heard that.”

“Good.”

Errol chuckled, and they returned to brushing.

After a long moment, he paused, “Well, maybe there should be.”

“Should be?”

He looked at her firmly, “Kindness.”

“Oh.”

He walked around the horse and held out his hands to help her into the saddle. He frowned at her bloodied feet.

“Errol, isn’t that… blasphemy?”

He looked up at her through messy brown curtains of hair, “Maybe it is.”

Linkle’s eyes widened and Errol glanced back down at her feet, “You really did a number on these, Freckles.”

Linkle groaned, “Not you, too! It’s bad enough that Malo keeps going on and on about them. Are freckles really so bad?”

He laughed and squeezed her knee, “Not at all - they just decorate your face, Linkle. They’re pretty - just like when Tala makes cupcakes and covers them with those baking sprinkles.”

Linkle blushed and punched him lightly in the forehead, “Well don’t call me Freckles.”

He laughed and rubbed at his head. He smiled up at her after a moment, “You’ve got a deal, Sprinkles.”

Linkle released such a squawk that the horse looked around for a cucco. She punched at Errol again, but he dodged and then ran off back to the farm.

Linkle heeled the horse after him, but it just ambled along at a friendly pace. She groaned and slumped in the saddle, “I could walk back faster, come oooooon.”

Errol smirked at her from a safe distance, “If the horse is such an imposition I’ll be happy to help you down.”

Linkle looked at her bloody feet, “No, I’m good.”

He laughed and walked over, pacing with the horse as he dug in the saddle bag. He pulled out a bottle of frothy milk and waved it in front of her face, “If you drink this, you’ll feel better.”

Linkle stared at the bubbles bouncing through the glass, “I doubt it. Besides, milk is for breakfast and dinner, not midday.”

He held it up to her persistently, “My last blue rupee says this bottle of milk will make your feet feel right as rain.”

“If you just wanted to give me money, why make me drink warm milk first?” The girl shrugged and snatched the bottle from him, looking down to his face, “Five whole rupees?”

He nodded.

Linkle downed the whole bottle and corked it again, holding her hand out for the prize.

Errol laughed.

“Hey, you better not stiff me!”

He fished a shining blue gem from his belt pouch and flipped it into the air, snatching it back before she could reach out for it herself.

He took off at a run for some trees, looking back over his shoulder, “If you want your payment you’ll have to catch me first!”

Linkle shrieked and heeled the horse again, but it continued to ignore her and just trudged along.

She groaned and leapt out of the saddle, chasing after her brother on foot. 

The horse whickered loudly and turned towards the barn.

Errol darted back and forth from tree to tree as Linkle chased him. The sun missed the grass under the trees’ shade, leaving much of it still damp from the morning dew.

She sprinted after him, the damp grass wriggling between her toes, and the wind blowing her hair around her face. 

Abruptly, he darted to a large boulder in the middle of a grove of trees and leapt on top. He spun around and flashed the blue rupee again, “Good job, Sprinkles! I guess you caught me.”

She smirked up at him, “Tired out already, old man? I could chase you all day.”

He laughed, “I’ll bet you could.” He kneeled on the boulder and leaned forward with the gem.

“But wait!” He snatched the rupee back.

Linkle groaned, “What now? Are you really going to make me chase you all day?”

“Oh no - it’s just that I realized something.”

Errol smiled and pointed down at the ground, “Look at your feet.”

Linkle rolled her eyes and looked down. Rather than the bloodied messes they had been before, her feet were clean, other than bits of soil and grass sticking to them.

She squeezed the soft earth between her toes and widened her eyes. She sat down for a better look and inspected the bottoms of her feet.

Her eyes shot wide. Where the sores had speckled her soles, now only faint scars lay.

She looked up at Errol, “But… how?”

He smiled and rapped the boulder he was sitting on, “Faerie magic.”

Linkle laughed, “Faerie’s aren’t REAL, Errol. Everyone knows that.”

He raised an eyebrow at her, “I’ve seen them.” He rapped the boulder again.

Linkle slowly shook her head, “No… no way.”

Errol smiled and pointed to grooves in the dirt next to the boulder, “Lon Lon Ranch is built over an ancient faerie spring, Sprinkles.”

He hopped down and kneeled before her, grabbing a handful of dirt, “The faeries bless the very land with their presence. Their magic works its way into everything.”

He lifted the dirt up high and let it rain down between his fingers, “The grass grows from the land, and the cows eat the grass. They also drink from the water, which is rich in faerie magic.”

He smiled at her, “Then we drink the milk.” He snapped his fingers.

“Boom, faerie milk.”

Linkle gaped her mouth open and then stared at her feet again. She looked back over to the boulder and the grooves next to it, “But how do you know its faeries, Errol? Maybe Farore blessed the cows?”

Her brother grinned and moved over to the boulder, “Linkle - this has to be our secret, okay? People abuse faerie power when they learn of it.”

Linkle nodded, “Yeah, yeah, I remember the story about the sorcerer who trapped faeries in armor and made them fight for him.”

Errol nodded back, “Exactly.”

He leaned against the boulder and made as if to push, “C’mon Sprinkles - give me a hand.”

She laughed and leaned into the boulder with him, “There’s no way we are moving this rock, Errol. It has to be at least a hundred-stone!”

Errol smirked and began to push, grunting, “You’d… be surprised… Sprinkles!”

Linkle felt the rock moving against their pressure and leaned harder into it, pushing with her brother. When they had pushed it almost 4 hands, she could make out a passage underneath the stone.

She looked up at him and pinched her own cheek, “Brother - have you always been this strong?”

He laughed, “Actually, I have been feeling a lot more energetic the past few days. Must be all this farm work.”

Linkle nodded, “Okay.”

Her brother smiled and grabbed her hand, squeezing into the hole between them, and then guiding her down as well.

They stood on an uneven rock floor. While the light of the sun stopped mere hands from the entrance, an unearthly glow from further in lit the tunnel.

As her eyes adjusted, Linkle saw glowing squares set into the ground ahead, and going around a bend in the tunnel.

Errol started to gently pull her forward and pointed to the tiles, “I think these are made from luminous stone. Mother talks about it sometimes - its pretty rare but has a lot of uses.”

Linkle nodded. Faint chiming danced off the stones to reach her ears. The points at the end of her ears twitched.

She began to move forward herself, eyes bright and wide, mouth slightly open.

Around the corner, she found a magnificent pool, filled with shimmering water and surrounded by tiles and pillars of luminous stone.

“Wooow.”

Errol smiled and ruffled her hair, “I knew you would like it, kid.” 

She looked up at him, “Who wouldn’t?”

“Heh.” He sat down at the mouth of the chamber, “You haven’t even seen the best part.”

He pulled another bottle out of a pocket, this one half filled with clear water. He uncorked it held it carefully before his mouth.

He wet his lips and blew, gently over the top. Slowly, he changed the angle of the bottle and covered at times more and at times less of the top. He picked out a peculiar sound in this way, like wind blowing in a canyon.

As he coaxed almost-music from the bottle, little pink lights began to shine in the air. He pointed them out and Linkle stared.

She sat down next to him and they watched the lights dance and play as he continued to sound out a love song to the wind.

After several bars, Linkle’s stomache growled and Errol laughed. As soon as he stopped playing the almost music, the faerie lights began to fade from view.

He reached down to his hip and opened a satchel. He pulled out three paper wrapped pancakes and handed them to her, “Ingra said you’d be no use to anyone if you were hungry.”

She unwrapped the top pancake and laughed at the Ingra-nose-shaped hole in it. They were cold, but she greedily ate them. The flavor of Tala’s pancakes was more than enough to make up for the soggy texture like that of overripe berries.

Errol smiled as she ate, “We are lucky Tala is such a good cook.”

Linkle grunted as she finished her first pancake and unwrapped the next, “I think you care less about her cooking and more about her eeeeyes.” She stretched the last word out tauntingly and then immediately downed the second pancake like a rabid wolfos.

Errol laughed, snatching the third pancake and standing, “She does have nice eyes.” He looked down the hallway, lips stretched wide sideways, “Among other charms.”

“Uh-huh.” She got up and reached for the last pancake, but he held it up in the air and started walking down the hall back the way they’d came.

“Gimme!”

“Nope.” They reached the mouth of the cave and he tossed the pancake up the hole and climbed out, reaching down to help his sister with the ascent.

“If I let you eat that fast, you’ll get sick on me.”

“No I won’t, Errol!”

He laughed and motioned her to the other side of the boulder. When they returned it to its home, he led them back to the farmhouse, ripping off pieces of pancake for her along the way.

They talked of Castletown and life spent amongst the other children of knights.

“Will you teach me some more sword tricks tonight, brother?”

He half-glared down at her, “They aren’t tricks Linkle. The best route to being a good fighter is true mastery of the basic guards and motions.”

She groaned and grabbed a nearby stick off the ground, “I’ll be a great hero, someday, Errol! I’ll have all the best moves and every kid will want to be just like me! I’ll be stronger than a Hinox!” She swished the stick through the air in sweeping motions. She stumbled on a rock and almost fell over.

Errol laughed and snatched the stick, tossing it away, “You’re gonna hurt yourself, Sprinkles.”

“Errol… could you not call me that where Ingra and Malo can hear? I dont’ want Malo to start calling me that, too.”

He smiled and ruffled her hair, “Deal. It’ll be our secret, Linkle.”

She grinned back and then gasped. She pointed to a shape near the farmhouse, “That looks like a Royal Guard wagon! Mother and Father must have come for us! The war is over!” She sprinted off to the building, her form licked by the red-tinted rays of the late evening sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haven't written a byte since posting the last chapter. Hmm! I need to go ahead and finish up the next one and maybe I can post it new weekend!


	11. Wagon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link eats pie. Other people eat pie.
> 
> Pie is good.

The sun stretched to its zenith when Link opened his eyes again.

His ears twitched with the sound of great eager sniffs.

Link looked upon Rauru. The old man stood in the same spot as before, his eyes glazed and unfocused. He sniffed of the air; a starving man smelling a fine meal, or a hound finding the trail of its prey.

::Is he okay?:: Link stood and waved for the elder’s attention to no avail.

“Old Man?”

Rauru’s mouth remained closed, but his sniffs came closer together, almost desperate.

::Maybe I shouldn’t have closed his mouth before! He could be suffocating!::

The lad reached out and pried the man’s jaw open, only for the robed menace to bite into his shield hand.

“Mmm - cherry, my favorite!”

Link screamed and jumped away, nursing his pained hand. He watched the toothy wound seal and wiped the remaining blood into the dirt.

Several guards poured out of the tower and looked around. The one with the mace turned to Link, “Everything ok, kid? We heard a girl scream.”

Link lowered his brow and pointed at the madman in red clutching his staff, “He bit me!”

The other two guards laughed, “I told you it was the lad!” 

The mace bearer strode forward and examined Link’s hand, “Well there - I don’t even see a mark. Sometimes the fear of a thing is worse than the thing itself you know.”

He reached out and ruffled Link’s cap. 

The hero’s eyes stared out from under his bangs, sharp enough to shave lynel hide.

The mace-bearer and his subordinates clustered in the shade, completely absorbed with their own business. A leather-vested man burst out of the tower on the other side of the road and jogged over to the group, a small spyglass hanging from his neck, “Pieboy’s comin’!”

His voice was thick and high, like the bray of a donkey. Link leveled eyes on his round ears and huffed, ::Figures. Yokel.::

After what Link supposed might have been a full candlemark, the guards called out, and the hero glanced down the road to see a young red-haired man pulling a handcart to the bridge.

::I just can’t catch a break,:: Link spit into the dirt and pulled his hood over his face. He counted freckles on his forearms while he waited for the merchant to go away.

“Oh yes, quite definitely a boy.” The old man’s feet stayed planted in the dirt before Link.

:;Yeah, yeah. He’s a boy alright.” 

The guards excitedly greeted the youth, rupees and baked treats changing hands fast as a game of hot tuber at a campfire.

“Here,” The maceman handed the baker 2 small azure gems, “Why don’t you give a little something to our friends at the gate.”

Link’s head snapped up at the guard, but he quickly lowered it again, ::Stalshit! Now what?!::

He choked out the graveliest voice he could manage, “Uh thank you, good sir, but I’m not hungry.”

The guard laughed and walked over to Link as his men returned to their posts - each rupees poorer and pastries richer. “Why ya talkin’ like that, kid? Swallow a toad?”

He gave the hero a hearty wallop on the back and Link fell forward onto his hands and knees, coughing. 

“Woaah, easy there.” The red-headed baker knelt down, holding a pair of large hand pies out to Link.

::They always smell so good.:: Link’s mouth was almost overflowing with salivation. He shook his head and sat back on his heels, dusting his hands off.

“Ha - you know, you remind me of someone.”

Link’s face set in a glare and he raised his eyes, meeting Malo’s gaze for the first time in many moons.

He snatched the pies from Malo’s hands and stepped back.

“F-Freckles?!”

The maceman glanced at Link’s face under the hood, and then turned a glare at Malo, “Now young man, that is no way to greet a stranger.”

“Stranger?!” Malo laughed and bounced in place, “She’s no stranger! I know her!”

The guard looked at him for a candle sliver and then turned back to Link, “Is that true, son? You know Malo, here?”

Link shook his head haltingly.

The maceman sighed and took off his helmet. He wiped sweat off of his bald head and took a breath in. As he breathed out, his face transformed into a vile sight; his brows knitting together into a knot atop his nose, and his upper lip curling up to show his yellowed teeth. His oversized round ears were the only detractor from his serious face.

He whirled on Malo.

“Young man, I have a half a mind to whoop your fire-headed ass from here to Tala’s kitchen!”

Malo’s eyes shot wide open and he glanced side-to-side, seeing no other target for the man’s fury.

The guard advanced a step.

“First you mock a tired stranger for his freckles - which is rich from your spotted arse, let me tell you - and then you have the gall to call this young boy a girl?”

Malo’s brows drooped to the outside of his face. His eyes moistened, “B-but sir, she -”

The guard slammed his foot forward another step, the mailed boot jangling dully, a Rope snake, warning its challenger.

“That’s enough, Malo!”

Malo threw his eyes to the ground. Water began to fall noisily from his face.

The guard took another breath in, closing his eyes. When he opened them, his face was kindly again.

“Look, I know that to our eyes, all Hylians look a little different. The men are a little less broad in the shoulder. A little less high off the ground.”

He reached a hand out to Malo’s shoulder, but he shrugged it off and sobbed.

“But you can’t go around calling them girls for that. That’s just not right, boy.”

The guard shoved his helmet back on his head and turned back to the tower. He threw his voice over his shoulder as he reached the door, “You run along back to Tala now.”

“Yes, sir.”

Malo grabbed his cart and pushed it as fast as he could the way he had came.

“Well, it was only half his fault, really.”

Link looked to Rauru, his beard tangled with numerous pastry crumbs.

He looked back to the shrinking cart. As it neared the bend in the road, a large wagon came around as well. The red-head darted right past them and disappeared.

Link raised a meaty hand pie to his nose. He breathed in deeply, the egg-washed flaky crust fluttering in the gentle breeze of his making. ::Seasoned pork. Peppers. Onions.::

He took a small bite. Cheese pulled in gooey strings from his teeth to the pie. ::Still warm inside. He must have oven bricks in that cart.::

He chewed and took another, bigger bite.

::Tala. Malo. By the Three, these are the best damned hand pies in both Hyrules.”

Sweat trickled off Link’s brow, moistening around his eyes. He let it be, finishing his savory pie, and then moving on to the sweet one as the carriage drew nearer.

The crust shone; drizzled with a light glaze and filled with a jammed concoction made from the same red fruit he had sampled off of the trees in the area. He wolfed it down, dusting his hands again as the wagon drew nearer.

The princess leaned out of the window waving at him, a broad grin on her face, “Liiiiink!”

He wiped his eyes and mouth and smiled, waving back.

The carriage was pulled by a four-in-the-hand team of stocky mares and gelds steadily trotting along. As they slowed, Zelda threw open the door and leapt out, running up to Link and landing a spinning hug on his shoulders.

He spun with her momentum, giggling with her as her cool hands found the back of his neck. She pulled his head forward and planted a peck on his forehead, “Did you sleep well under the stars, Hero?”

He shrugged, grinning up at her.

The horses pulled to a stop before the gate and Link led his princess to them. Impa sat in the coachman’s seat, grumbling as they passed. She was holding open a large satchel and digging inside.

The first mare seemed cranky. A pretty thing, smudges of black on her rear thighs marred an otherwise flat earthen brown. Elegant white stripes ran along either side of her face, chasing up from her muzzle, along her eyes, and finding their home in her mane just past her ears.

She whickered and looked away as Link’s hand approached her muzzle, fingers curled up in a loose, protective fist.

“Now, now -” Link glanced at the marks stamped into her leather cheekstrap, “Badger.”

The horse shoved his hand away with her head and Zelda laughed, “Your farmer wasn’t very inventive with names was he?” 

Links shook his head, “Sure looks that way.”

He checked the others; a pair of gelded Lemonsillas named Lemon and Lime, as well as a Dapple Gray mare named Spot.

“Spot?” Zelda’s voice nearly quaked, “That is no fit name for a lady!”

Link looked at the princess, “I’m not sure they mind so much.”

She fumed quietly for a few slivers of time, ::Well. At least I don’t think she’s angry at me.”

Spot was the calmest of the bunch. Zelda lavished her with praise as Link checked upon Lemon and Lime.

::Alert. Fine tempered. Strong enough.::

He checked on cinches and straps, finding them more or less in order. He walked back around to Zelda. 

She smiled at him as she stroked Spot’s withers. “So Link, what was that red-head running off in such a hurry for when we rode up?”

Link froze. He slowly turned to face Lime again and readjust his perfectly arranged kit.

Impa snorted from the coachman’s seat, “Knowing our Hero, he scared the boy off. Threatened to cook him up in a stew mayhap.”

Zelda giggled, “Oh don’t be silly, Impa!” 

The princess smiled at the brunette youth, “I’m sure it wasn’t Link’s fault at all.”

Impa snorted her disagreement. Then she pulled a scroll from her bag and slowly worked to the steps down from the seat.

“Oh!” Zelda turned and lightly squeezed Link’s shoulder, “Be a dear, Hero and help Lady Impa down?”

Link bowed slightly, “Of course, Princess” He scurried to the other side of the wagon and held his arms out to assist the purple-haired crone descend the wagon.

She planted her gnarled staff on the ground and reached a crooked, clawed hand out to his arm. Her fingers dug in firmly and she lowered herself the last large step.

She stopped for a moment at the ground to take a few deep breaths and then waved him away, “Oh, go and play Hero for the princess.”

Link rolled his eyes and stepped away, watching her rap on the door of the guard tower with her walking stick and argue with the guard who answered it. The young man’s shoulder pads drooped lower and lower until finally the maceman shoved calmly past him and retrieved the scroll from Impa’s grasp.

He scanned it and shook his head, stamping his foot once.

Impa stood a little straighter, and the maceman saluted her before shouting an order over his shoulder and darting over to the other tower.

As he darted past, Rauru turned and approached the side of the carriage. He reached into the open door with his staff hook and flipped out a hinged set of steps. He scaled them methodically.

Zelda smiled at him as he disappeared into the carriage.

With a loud bang and ponderous creaking, the great chains of the bridge shifted. The wood itself fell forward in a descent slower than a feather falling from a tree.

::This’ll take a while::

Link studied the black lower panels of the carriage and reached his fingers out to a peeling crest of faded blue. He began to scratch lightly at the crest, and it came off in large papery chips that he let fall to the road.

Zelda approached him, head cocked, “Not too fond of the Royal Guard, Link?”

His eyes jumped to hers, and then back to the crest. He continued to strip it away.

“This -” he waved his hands at the wagon, “is disgraceful.”

Zelda hummed, face falling to the ground as her ears fell flat and twitched, “I suppose it is at that.”

“You know, as royalty, I am afraid it is an unpleasant reality that we cannot know the names and faces of all those who serve us. In times of war, we cannot even know the names of all who fall at our command.”

She squatted down and plucked a large chip from the road. She clutched it in both hands and brought it to her face, blowing dust from it.

“The Royal Guard is a different story, however. They spend much time in the company of the royals. We get to know each other quite well.”

She brought the chip to her lips and held it there.

“All the Royal Guard, Link. I know -” She took a deep breath, “I knew them all.”

A sharp gust came in off the chasm and caught the paint chips. Link watched the wind carry the pieces away.

A loud thunk reverberated through the air and ground around them. Link walked to the front of the carriage and saw the first half of the bridge laying atop the needle of land stretching from the depths of the canyon. The other half was still lowering but had almost landed as well.

Impa came back to the carriage and Link assisted her up before joining Zelda who already strode across the monumental structure.

He jogged to catch up to her. She nodded at him but kept her silence.

The other half of the bridge landed, sending a jolt through the planks as they walked.

Link squatted low, reaching a hand out to the rumbling wood.

The princess giggled, “Don’t worry, Link. I assure you the Great Bridge is quite safe.”

She tapped her foot on a large metal beam as she walked over it, “These structural supports were built to last hundreds of years. A special team comes to maintain them every year.”

The youth grunted and stood back up, following Zelda until they reached the landing. She led him to the side of the round platform and once the wagon had cleared the bridge, she waved back at the guard tower.

Slivers later, the chain loudly pulled taut and the half of the bridge they had already crossed started to lift slothfully into the sky.

Zelda clapped her hands together and walked to the cliff. She pointed out to the chains racing up and down the chasm’s walls, “The Great Bridge is a marvel of engineering from the Hyrule Unification War.”

A breeze along the chasm howled and played with the fringes of Zelda’s dress and hair, “Many of our mechanical and architectural wonders came from that time. Most of them were built under the same architect, the mysterious ‘Link Vohenia.’”

Link looked at the structures again, the waterwheels churning merrily away in the rapids below, “Vohenia… that name sounds familiar.”

Zelda laughed, “Well, he is a famous architect.”

“Although, some historians believe that he wasn’t the actual mastermind behind the architecture. Some of the records of his writing appear near to illiterate.”

Link looked up at her, “Do you believe he made the designs?”

Zelda nodded, “There are a lot of different types of learning. Vohenia’s linguistics were somewhat lacking, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a genius in other ways. Too often, scholars lump all sorts of learning in together and believe themselves an intellectual elite set apart and above from the rest of the world.”

Link giggled.

“What?”

“You sound like a scholar, Princess.”

She laughed, “Well, hopefully not that kind.”

She turned to the other side of the chasm, where the wagon was already rolling along the bridge, “Come on, Hero. We don’t want to be left behind!”

She grabbed his hand and they darted off after the carriage together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoyed writing this chapter, but the last half admittedly took me longer than I expected.


	12. Mourning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Errol and Linkle receive an important message calling them back from Lonlon Ranch to Castletown.

Errol froze and stared at the wagon. A pair of black flags flew from the pennant post and his eyes shot wide, suddenly damp, “Linkle, no, wait!”

Errol reached the house right behind Linkle. She ran up to the door and an extravagantly armored woman strode out, each step rattling with chain and plate. She looked down at Linkle and reached up to remove her helmet, holding it in a gauntleted fist.

Linkle’s eyes glittered, “Missus Captain, sir?”

She met the Captain’s eyes and then peeked around her inside the building.

Tala sat on a bench, her face flushed and wet. Streams of water were dripping down her nose and chin. She breathed in great gasps. 

Ingra held her sister’s head to her bosom and stroked her brown-black hair.

Malo sat by the bench, hugging his knees and staring wide-eyed into the fireplace, red bangs flickering in the light from the jumping flames.

Linkle took it all in at a glance, time crawling by. She felt a kiss of cold steel on her cheek and turned back to the Captain.

The armored woman pulled her gauntlet back from the child’s face.

“What’s wrong with Miss Tala, sir?” Linkle turned back to the wagon, “Where are Mother and Father?”

“Linkle, I -” She placed the helmet in the soil, removing one of her gauntlets as well to join it. She pulled the corner of her tabard up to her face and dabbed at her eyes.

She looked up and locked eyes with Linkle’s brother.

“Errol…”

He nodded and turned to the wagon emblazoned proudly with the crest of the Royal Guard, “The black banners.”

He looked back to the captain and stepped forward, “The war isn’t over, is it?”

“No, son.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, wiping them with her tabard again.

A chill ran down the young girl’s spine and her eyes widened almost imperceptibly.

“I don’t understand.” Linkle’s voice sounded quiet to her own ears, but the captain turned down to meet her gaze, “Where are they, Sir?”

“Linkle - the Mourning Banner isn’t usually flown during times of peace.” She looked to the grass, glistening in the light of the fading sun.

“It is flown only when a sworn knight of the kingdom d-” The gallantly clad woman coughed and held her still-gauntleted hand to her chest. ‘When a knight - falls - in service to the crown.”

“Falls?” Linkle looked at the twin black banners flying from the post.

“You mean -” She looked at Errol and he met her eyes and kneeled before her.

“She means when they die, Linkle.”

“I… but-” She looked at the banners again, flapping noisily in the evening breeze. 

Her eyes ripped wide, the orbs threatening to plummet from her skull, “Mother…? Father…?” She darted to the wagon, tugging on the door.

“Mother! Father!”

Errol looked to the Captain and lifted his brows slightly.

She nodded, “I am to take you both to Castletown for the final rites and interment.”

Linkle gave a last great tug on the wagon door. She hauled back and kicked it with a yell.

She shook her head at the wood and metal beast. She turned and ran back to brother, still kneeling in the ground, “Errol, Errol! It’s ok!” She spoke quickly, her voice singing high like a strained cucco, “It’s ok! We’ll just bring them some Lonlon milk!”

His eyes brimmed and he shook his head, he reached out to hug her, but she darted back, “It’s no good, Linkle. It doesn’t work that way.”

“Oh.” Her gaze dropped for a second and then she looked right back up to him, “Then we’ll take them straight to the source! We just need to bring them to the fairy pond!”

“NO!” He screamed it, water falling from the corner of his eyes, “Not even fairies can help the dead, Linkle.”

He lurched forward and caught her in his arms as she made to run off, “They belong to the Goddesses now.”

The Captain made the sign of the three and bowed her head.

Linkle took a great breath. She snarled, “I don’t care about the stupid Goddesses!”

Ingra gasped from inside.

She beat against Errol’s chest, ”They can’t have them!”

She yanked on his hair, struggling to get free, “They can’t have them - you hear me?!”

She bit deep into Errol’s cheek and he cried out and gripped her harder.

She spat out his blood, red drops joining clear already running down her chin, “They’re MY parents! I NEED THEM!”

Errol grimaced and patted her hair, “I know, Linkle, I need them, too.”

Linkle went still. Water ran down her face, but she didn’t wipe at it. Her brother held her close and whispered hushing noises in her ears.

Malo wandered out of the doorway, his face sagging with sorrow. He walked over to them and stood. He looked at Linkle and his arms twitched.

“Boy. Fetch your sisters - I have to leave these horses with you.”

Malo gave a last glance to Linkle and then wandered back inside.

The Captain set about unharnessing the horses and pulling the stringer remounts into their place. When Malo returned with Ingra and Tala, she handed them lead ropes and gave them instructions for when a messenger came to retrieve them.

Ingra nodded and thanked the woman before leading her family away with the horses to the barn.

Errol stood and opened the wagon door easily. He hoisted his sister onto the threshold and assisted the Captain with harnessing the stringers. The horses whickered at him as he passed, and he soothed them as he worked.

“We must leave tonight if we are to be at the castle when the procession arrives.”

Errol nodded silently, looking up at Linkle.

She climbed further into the wagon and laid down on one of the cushioned bench seats. She stared across the darkening compartment for a long moment and then closed her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was very difficult to write this section. It ended short, but that felt ... right. I waited to post it, though, until I had another chapter ready. I wouldn't want a reader to ... end on this note.


	13. Pace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Zelda's party heads out on the road to New Hyrule's North Palace. But Link refuses to ride in the wagon with the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Hyrule uses Studiorat's conlang for Geld'o, the language of Gerudo. It has come up now, and will in the future, but the meanings should be contextually apparent. If you must have translations, I recommend reading through Studiorat's work.
> 
> Actually, I recommend that anyway. Start with Stars Hide Your Fires.
> 
> Bring ice cream.
> 
> This chapter has a TRIGGER WARNING for very thinly-veiled accusations of child molestation.

The drawbridge raised behind them as Impa spoke with the guards about news on this side of the ravine.

Zelda hugged Link, briefly, “I’m going to speak with Godfather.”

She opened the door and pulled the step down, climbing nimbly inside.

The lad started hoisting the step back in and Zelda thrust her head back outside, “You’re not joining us?”

Link shook his head and closed the door to the wagon. He began to march down the road out of town.

Zelda watched him for a while before shaking her head and settling back into the wagon.

The village on this side of the ravine had almost as many fruit trees as its twin. Link gathered all he could store in his various pouches and tossed some extras to his fellow travelers. Then he grabbed a juicy red apple and settled into a gait beside the wagon, chomping down on his treat.

Zelda nimbly cut slivers from her apple with a belt knife, delicately devouring them, “Thank you for the treat, Hero. Now that you’ve collected some rations for our journey will you be joining us in the carriage?”

Link shook his head.

The princess huffed and threw her red locks over her shoulder, “But Liiiiink, it’s boring up here! Rauru’s staring off into space, so I’m all alone! And those boots of yours can’t be all that comfy for a long walk.”

He shrugged, ::They got me around Old Hyrule and Death Mountain pretty well.::

She cut a final sliver of fruit from her apple and popped it into her mouth before tossing the core at him.

The youth laughed and nimbly dodged the projectile.

Villagers waved and stared as the carriage moved through the town. Some laughed at the antics of the young princess and hero.

As they left the village proper and waved at the guards, Zelda leaned out of the window again, “Come on, Link. I don’t wish to be rude, but we really do have business to be getting about back at the Palace. Now that we’re out of the town we need to pick up the pace a little bit.” She motioned for him to join her in the cabin of the carriage.

Link began to jog.

Zelda closed her eyes and took several controlled breaths.

She opened the window board to the driver’s seat, “Lady Impa, you may set your own pace.”

Purple strands fell over a robed shoulder, “And the boy?”

Zelda shook her head, “We shall see. For now, do not consider him.”

Impa nodded and pushed the team to a light trot. They complied readily and handily overtook the boy.

Link increased his own pace as the carriage passed, and began to focus tightly on his breathing.

As candleslivers began to add up, he found his fatigue coming and leaving in spurts, far differently than it ever had when he was younger. As a splint in his side began to plague him, within slivers it had calmed and he breathed well again. His boots wore blisters into his feet and toes, but although they burst with stinging pain, within a few beats they had sealed again, his skin no longer raw.

The same deep reservoir that fueled him during battle was slowly emptying into his body for the run.

He breathed hard, but the wind caressed his cap and his bangs.

His feet ached and sometimes bled, but they pushed against the earth with vitality.

He paced with the horses and they whickered and whinnied at him; a beast of wild energy like them; a companion spirit.

When the sun fell to meet the horizon, the troupe crested a small hill. Before them a little hamlet spread in a valley.

Link fell back, letting Impa guide the team. She pulled up to a sturdy building with a wooden sign of a bed and a mug and began yelling orders at a nearby stablehand. The young man promptly scurried to her requests, rushing out of sight.

Link leaned against the wall of the inn and caught his breath. He was starting to feel a little tired. He reached into his pouches and gathered several apples. With an open palm, he carefully presented one to each of the horses and then scarfed one himself. As he finished it, his eyes met Zelda looming nearby.

“I’ve never seen anyone run like that before, Hero,” her brow was knit slightly together, her ears drooping.

The brunette shrugged.

The princess sighed, “Are you feeling alright? A heroic effort like that would surely take a lot out of you.”

Link shrugged again, “I’m ok. Little hungry. Tired.”

She nodded, “Well come inside, let’s get you washed up and fed, and get some rest for tomorrow, ok?”

Link looked around, seeing Rauru and Impa heading into the inn ahead of them, and a pair of stablehands guiding the horses and carriage around. The horses whickered again at him as they passed by.

Link smiled and let Zelda pull him into the inn.

True to words, she soon had him putting away his over clothes and washing up. The innkeep had left a pot stewing and promised them fresh biscuits with hot soup if they could wait half a candlemark. While they waited Zelda slipped off her traveling shoes and socks. She thoroughly scrubbed them against themselves and a bit of soap, before rinsing and wringing them out, and setting them on a warming stone near the hearth with some other bits of cloth, and the wooden sandals Impa favored.

The princess motioned at Link and he sat to pull his own boots off. They stuck a little, but after some tugging he pulled them free. When Zelda saw his sock, she gasped.

Link looked down and saw dried blood painted the ankle and toe of the sock. He pulled his other boot off to a similar revelation.

“Oh, Link, why couldn’t you just ride with us?”

He laughed, “Oh, don’t worry Princess, it’s no trouble!” He pulled the socks off and showed her his smooth, undamaged skin underneath.

She stared in turns at the bloodied socks and his clean feet. Finally she shook her head, “Regardless of the state of your feet now, you will still need to clean those socks, Hero.”

He nodded and hopped to the sink. Zelda spared him another look through her red hair before leaving for the common room.

Link soaked his socks and put one on each hand. He scrubbed them against the soap, and then against each other. Against the soap, against each other.

::That blood stain’s not coming out.::

He rinsed and wrung out the socks several times and left them lying on the warming stone. Then he grabbed a rag and cleaned out his boots lightly, before leaving them by the stone as well, ::That’ll have to do.::

He rinsed his hands again and joined the others in the common room. They sat around a low table. Rauru and Impa sat in low chairs and Zelda lounged on the floor.

“Hm, just in time boy.” Rauru motioned to a steaming bowl of soup set next to Zelda’s. “Biscuits coming out of the oven in a sliver. They’re delicious.”

Link blinked and sat down, “Oh. That’s good. Spirits gone to bed then, Old Man?”

He chuckled through his beard, but Impa glared at Link, “A little respect for your elders wouldn’t go amiss, child.”

Link gasped, “I respect Rauru - he’s excellent for fending off mosquitoes.”

Zelda giggled and leaned back as the pudgy, bearded innkeep brought a large clay platter of biscuits and set it upon the table. He snatched the top of the pile before wandering off into a hammock by the inn’s door, “Y’all n’joy yer meal ‘n’ave a goo’ ni’”

Rauru chuckled and quickly ate his serving. He drank the broth and sopped up the remnants of flavor with his biscuit.

Link followed his lead. The soup filled his stomache plentifully, yet left his mouth unexcited. ::Rauru is right, though. These biscuits are good.::

He ate another biscuit and drank some water before his legs felt warm and his eyelids started to droop. He stretched his arms and back, yawning freely.

He stood and bowed lightly to the others before wandering off to the back rooms. He lay on the fluffier of the straw mattresses and closed his eyes.

He did not dream.

He could not swear if he slept or woke.

But he heard a buzzing tone. Low and soft, a distant rushing river slapping rocks. But also high and crisp, the tinkling of bells as a fairy flew to him with a smile and kissed his wounds away before disappearing into the air.

He felt cool arms encircle him.

He opened his eyes, the buzzing continuing. Coursing river and calling bells danced in his brain.

But his eyes showed red, dimly. A lantern - mostly shuttered - let a taste of light into the room. The red locks of a young Hylian glew gently as she leaned forward and planted a damp kiss on his forehead.

“P-princess? You shouldn’t be here.”

Zelda laughed and snuck her arm under his head, “A princess should be safe, Hero. You’ll keep me safe, won’t you?”

Link nodded through the buzzing and leaned into her soft form. The buzzing mercifully faded, and he slipped into slumber.

▲  
▲▲

Link awoke to sunlight on his eyelids. Squinting, he saw Zelda still lay in the bed with him.

A smile broke out on his face, and he snuggled into her softness, ::Just like cuddling Mother.::  
Zelda hummed, her eyes still closed. She pulled Link closer and began lightly snoring.

Link closed his eyes and listened to her breathing for a time.

Soon he felt the need to use the necessary and slowly began to wriggle out of bed.

Before he could get far, Zelda’s fingers knotted in his hair, “Mmm. Morning, Link.”

Her eyes slitted open slowly and she leaned in and laid a kiss on his nose before stretching backwards.

“Uh. Morning, Zelda.” Link watched as her shift twisted and stretched against her curves as she moved in the bed.

She looked down mid-stretch and giggled, slowly blushing. She folded her arms between them in the bed, pulling the thin blanket up a little, “You’re blushing, Hero.”

“So are you.”

The princess giggled again and hopped out of bed. She pulled her simple dress off of a chair near the window and squirmed into it before stretching again, “Hm. I need the necessary.”

Link stretched his hand out and then groaned, dropping it.

Zelda laughed, her red hair bouncing on her shoulders, “Should’ve moved faster, Hero!”

She unlocked the door and bounded into the hall.

Link’s ears and brows dropped into a glower at the door, ::How does anyone have that kind of energy in the morning. By the three, its positively unnatural.::

He wandered off to the washroom and pulled on his overtunic. He examined the stains and rough patches in his socks with a grimace. They were clean, though, and he pulled them on, followed by his boots. Zelda popped in for her own apparel and he darted past her for the necessary, hopping on one foot as he tugged his other boot on.

Soon after he sat in the necessary, he heard Impa walk into the washroom next door in her wooden sandals. The noise was lightly muffled by the walls, but his long ears twitched with every step.

“Princess Zelda, I considered it best not to argue with you in front of the innkeep last night, but it is time you and I had a talk.”

Zelda laughed highly, an unusual quality carrying in her voice, “Why whatever do you mean, Lady Impa?”

Impa kept her silence for several slivers, “I do not know what strange notions were put into your head while a prisoner of Ganon, but -”

Zelda’s voice cut in, thick with honey, “Ganondorf.”

“I - what?”

“You are absolutely right, Lady Impa, you have no idea what strange notions were put into my head while I stayed under the care of Ganondorf.”

“My child what did he -”

“This is not -” Zelda punctuated with a stomp, “- up for discussion.”

“I. Well, regardless! The princess of Hyrule simply -”

“The days where you were expected to teach me of my duties to the throne have long been gone, Impa.”

After a pause, Zelda continued, “You do not get to treat me with divine reverence on one hand and childish disdain on the other. Either I am your queen or your friend, but I am not your daughter, Lady Impa - and if I were, my rights would still be protected to lay with who I wish. Thanks be to the Great King. Vohei ahtu rajena.”

“I - Zelda, what?”

All Impa received in reply was a grunt.

She sighed, “Daughter or liege it matters not, I cannot allow you to lay with that boy -” Impa’s tone lowered and her voice hushed “- he is just a child!”

“I seem to remember you saying the same of me not two cycles ago, right before Lord Father began teasing my hand to various nobles as a token of royal favor.”

“A-aye, but two cycles is an awful long time to a child, you see and -”

“Which. Am I. Impa?” Footsteps reverberated through the wooden floorboards.

“Child? Or queen?”

After a sliver came the reply, “Queen, milady.”

Zelda’s words trembled with ice, “Good. I will not have this discussion a third time.”

Zelda’s steps trailed away and Impa’s followed soon after.

Link did not leave the necessary for quite some time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes chapters make readers uncomfortable. Sometimes that is good.
> 
> If you have made it with me this far, I hope you continue on our journey. There is much yet to come, and I expect you will be surprised by many things.

**Author's Note:**

> I have loose ideas for this plot bunny, but many many plot bunny ideas that interrelate to it - some if which I feel are quite satisfying. If you have any plot suggestions or notes, feel free to comment or contact me on discord @ Bloodsexsugarmagick#7307
> 
> This work would not have happened without my wonderful Discord server mates. You all are such an inspiration/idea mine. I blatantly steal from you guys where appropriate, and I feel no guilt. Thanks for everything.


End file.
